' E 
 
 
 /C 
 
Class. 
 Book. 
 
REPORT 
 
 . JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL . 
 
 OM 
 
 €\t #rte 0f l^merkati fm0B, 
 
 :»? 
 
 ff 
 
 THE >SONS OF LIBERTY. 
 
 L Western Conspiracy 
 
 IN AID OP THE 
 
 SOUTHERN REBELLION. 
 
 BLISHED BY THE UNION CONGEESSIONAL COMMITTEF,. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 CHRONICLE PRINT. 
 
 186^, 
 

 '^^tiMi 
 
 Major Genbrai. MEAoa ■ " Dismissing, as 
 aow useless to discuss, all questions as to the 
 origin ef this war, we have daily and hoarly 
 evidences that it exists, and that it can oTdy be 
 terminated by hard fighting, and bj datermined 
 efforts to overcome the armed enemies of the 
 Government." 
 
 Major GiiffERAL Buessidb: "Would it not 
 be cowardly for us to say that this rebellion 
 cannot be crushed, and the authority of the Go- 
 vernment sustained? There is, in my mind, 
 no question of it. There can be no such thing 
 as laying down of arms or cessation of hostili- 
 ties, until the entire authority of the Govern- 
 ment is acknowledged by every citizen of our 
 couaitry." 
 
 Major Geneeai, Logan i "The greatest vic- 
 tory of the rebels, greater than fltty Manas- 
 eases, and the only one that can give them a 
 particle of hope, will be to defeat the war party 
 at the incoming campaign." 
 
 Major General Wool : "Nothing, for aught 
 that I can discover, will save the Union and its 
 Government but the Buecesses of Grant, Sher- 
 man, Farragut, and Sheridan." 
 
 Major General Sherman : "To stop the war 
 we must defeat the rebel armies that Ere ar- 
 rayed against the laws and Constitution, which 
 all must respect and obey." 
 
 Major General Dix: " It has been my con- 
 viction from the beginning that we can have 
 BO honorable peace until the insurgent armies 
 are dispersed and the leaders of the rebellioa 
 expelled from the country. I believe that a 
 cessation of hostilities would lead inevitably 
 and directly to a recognition of the insurgent 
 States; and when I say this I need hardly add 
 that I can have no part in any political move- 
 ment of which the Chicago platform is the 
 basis. No, fellow-citizens, the only hope of 
 securing an honorable peace — a peace which 
 shall restore the Union and the Constilution — 
 lies in a steady, persistent, end unremitting 
 prosecution of the war." 
 
 HMajor General Sickles: "I yield to no 
 ciiizen or soldier in my eolicitude for the hono- 
 cable termination of the war. The war was 
 delibsrately began by the rebels, and is persis- 
 tently waged bylhemto.divide and conquer the 
 Union. It is not so strange that our enemies 
 could find allies among £uropeaa antagonists 
 
 of free institutions, but it will never raaat 
 be a matter of humiliation and wonder that our 
 own people should be seriously divided upon 
 the question of submission or resistance. Let 
 who will be for submission, I am for resistance 
 as long as we have a battalion and a battle-field 
 left. Until the Constitution and laws are vin- 
 dicated in their supremacy throughout the land, 
 the Government should be confided to no hands 
 that will hesitate to employ all the power of 
 ihe nation to put down the rebellion." 
 
 Major General Butler, in a letter to Hon. 
 Simon Cameron, says: "It seems to me the 
 plain duty of every loyal man to support the 
 election of Lincoln'and Johnson. 
 
 "Can it be that any true man, especially any 
 Andrew Jackson Democrat, can desire this 60- 
 vernment put into the hands of the Messrs. 
 Vallandigham, Woods, Seymour, Pendleton, 
 Long, Harris, Voorhees, and their surrotind- 
 ings. North and South. 
 
 " The concurrent testimony of prisoners, de- 
 serters, and refugees, that the rank and file of 
 their [the rebel] armies are in the confident ex- 
 pectation and belief in the promise of their lead- 
 ers, that this will be their last campaign, that 
 the nominees of the Chicago Convention will 
 be elected in November, and that the indepen- 
 dence of the Confederate States will be ac- 
 knowledged, and a treaty of peace concluded." 
 
 % 
 
 Major General Curtis, in reply to an in- 
 vitation to address the people upon the issues 
 involved in the coming Presidential election, 
 being compelled, owing to official dnt'es, to 
 decline said invitation, says: "I would like to 
 expose [to the people] the dangers and proba- 
 ble disasters that would attend a change of 
 * Gommancler-in-ChieJ ' inst&5 we are exerting 
 all the national power to close out a most des- 
 perate war. I would like also to show how 
 pernicious such a change would be in view of 
 the tender- footed war policy enunciated by 
 General McClellan, in his foolish letter to ithe 
 President, written in front of Eicbmond. I 
 would like to denounce the Democratic plat- 
 form that expresses 'sympathy^ instead of com- 
 mencMion for soldiers who have fought and won 
 victories for their country, and ask the hon»r 
 due to victors, and despise the '«j/n)pa«%' of tJie 
 world. * 
 
 "I consider Mr. Lincoln's election perfectly 
 certain, and the only object should be to keep 
 Congress and the State Governments also irutif 
 loyal. We want the ballot-box to show a 
 strong support to the army." 
 
War Dbpahtmbmt, 
 
 BtTKEAn OH" Mri/ITAKY JtWHOE, 
 
 Wabhingtow, D. C, Octobers, 16G4. 
 Jrm, E. M. Stantwt, Seeretary «f Wart 
 
 3m : Having been instructed by you to pre- 
 j^are a detailed report upon the mass of t^eU- 
 moB7 famished me from diiTerent Bonrces in 
 regard to the Secret Associiiions and Oonsptrades 
 cgaittet the G<momment formed, principally in 
 the Weetem States, by traitors and disloyal 
 pafsoaa, I have now the honor to etibmit ae 
 
 COMOWS : 
 
 Baring more than a year past, it has been 
 ■{^nerally known to oar military authorities 
 'Chat a secret treasonable organization, affiliated 
 <f»th the Southern rebellion and chiefly military 
 in tts character, has been rapidly extending 
 Ktaelf throughout the West. A variety of agca- 
 i^es, which will be speciied herein, have been 
 ■employetl, and successfully, to ascertain its ca- 
 tore and extent, as well as its aims and its re- 
 mits ; and, as this investigation has led to the 
 MTest iu several States of a number of its promi- 
 nent members as dangerous enemies to their 
 tiountry, it, has been deemed proper to set forth 
 in full the acts and purposes of this organixa- 
 tJtOQ, and thus to make known to the cosntry 
 'Ct large its intensely treasonable and revo- 
 'r5vJonary spirit. 
 
 The subject will be presented under the fol- 
 owing heads : 
 
 T. Its origin, history, names, &c. 
 
 II. Its organization and officers. 
 
 liL ItJ extent and numbere. 
 
 IV. Its armed force. 
 
 Y. Its ritual, oaths, and interior forms. 
 
 ^T. Its written principles. 
 
 VII. Its specific purposes and operations. 
 
 YIII. The witnesses and their tcstimoay. 
 
 I. ITS ORIGIN, HISTORT, NAMES, &0. 
 
 This secret association first developed itse.lf 
 
 .; th3 West in the year 1863, about the period 
 
 j: the first conscription of troops, which it 
 
 ■aimed to obstruct and resist. Originally known 
 
 ■Lb certain localities as the " Mutual Protection 
 
 Society," the " Circle of Honor," or the " Oir- 
 
 als" or '-Knights of the Mighty Host," but 
 
 more widely as the "Knights of the Golden 
 
 Circle," it was simply an inspiratioa of the rd- 
 
 c.eUion, being little other than an extension 
 
 tiEioag the dietloval and disaffected at the North 
 
 <9f the association of the l.ttter name, which 
 
 iitd existed for some years at the Southland 
 
 :om which it derived all the chief features of 
 
 c organieatioQ. 
 
 During the summer and fall of 1663, the 
 Jr-der, both at the North and youth, underwent 
 .:om3 modidcations as well as a change of 
 ruime. in ccnseqaence of a partial exposnre 
 wkich had been mide of the signs and secret 
 forms of the " Knights of the Golden Circle," 
 g^orling Price had instituted as its successor in 
 Miscouri a secret political association, which be 
 cfisUcd the " Corps de Belgique," or '• Sonthem 
 lt<eagae i" bia principal coadjutor oeing Chacies 
 
 L. Hunt, of 8^. Louis, then Belgian Consul afc 
 th»t city, but whoso 6Xfl5T«i<w was eubeequentiy 
 revoked by the President on account of Lis dis- 
 loyal practices. The special object of tfa© 
 Corps de Belgique appears to have been to unite 
 i.he rebel sympathizers of Missouri, with a v<iew 
 to their taking up arms and joining Price upoci 
 his proposed grand invasion of that Slate, acd 
 to their recruiting for his army in the interim. 
 
 Meanwhile, als^, there had been instituted 
 at the North, in the autumn of 1863, by sundt^ 
 disloyal persons, prominent among whom were 
 Vallaudigham and P. C. Wright, of New Yoifc, 
 a secret order, intended to be general throughonb 
 the country, and aiming at an extended influence 
 and povver, and at more positive results tbanita 
 predecessor, and which was termed, and has 
 einca been widely krown as the ©. A. K.,or 
 " Order of American Knights.^' 
 
 The opinion is expressed by Colonel Sander- 
 son, Provost Marshal General of the Depart- 
 ment, of Missouri, in his ofliei-il report upea 
 the progressof the order, that it. was founded 
 l»y Vatlandigham daring, his banishment;, and 
 upon consultation at Richmond with Davis and 
 other prominent trartors. It is, indeed, the 
 boast of the order in Indiana and elsewhere, 
 that its "ritual" camo direct from Davis him- 
 self; and Mary Ann Pitman, formerly attached 
 to the command of the reoel Forrest, and a 
 most intelligent witness, whosa teslioiony wiH 
 be l^^reafter referred to, states positively that 
 Davis is 3 memoer of the order. 
 
 Upon the institution of the principal orga- 
 nizaiioa, it is represented that the " Corps de 
 • Belgique" was modified by Price, and be- 
 came a S^ulhem section of the G. A. K., and 
 that the new name was generally aeiopled for 
 tke order, both at the North and South. 
 
 The secret signs and character of the order 
 having become knosvn to our military authori- 
 ties, further modifications ia the ritual and forms 
 vereintrodaced,and its name was finally changed 
 to that of the O. 8. L., or " Order of tbe^bns of 
 L\heriyy'' or the "Knights of tho Order of the 
 Sons of Liberty." These la.er changes are 
 represented to have been first instituted, and 
 the new ritual [compiled, in the State of Indi- 
 ana, in May last, but the new name was at once 
 generally adopted throughout the West, though 
 ia some localities the assoeiation is still bettw 
 known as the " Order oi American Knights." 
 
 Meanwhile, iilso, the order has received certaia 
 local designation:. In parts of Illinois it has 
 been called at times the " Pn.ace Organization," 
 in Kentucky the 'Star Orgsnieation." and ia 
 Missouri as the "American Orgaaizaiion/* 
 these, however, being apparently namej used 
 outside of the lodges of the order. Its mem- 
 bers have also been familiarly dtsisfuated as 
 *'BatterBUts" by the country peoole of Illinois, 
 Indiana, and Oliio, and its separate lodges hav^ 
 also frequently received titles inteode t lor the 
 public ear ; that in Chicago, far instance, beiO^ 
 termed by its members the "Democratic Inriik- 
 cible Club," that in Louisville, iha "Democratia 
 Read'mg Room," &c. 
 
 It ia to be adited that ia the State of Net? 
 
York, and other parts of the North, the secret 
 political asBOciatiOQ known as ihe "■'' McCUllafi 
 Mniiie Guard " would seem to be a branch of 
 the O. A. K., having snbstantially the same ob- 
 jects, to be accomplished, however, by means 
 expressly snited to the localities in which it is 
 established. For, as the Chief Secretary of this 
 association, Dr. K. F. Stevens, stated in Jane 
 last to a reliable witness whose testimony has 
 been furnished, "those who represent the Me- 
 Clellan interest are compelled to preach a vigo- 
 rous prosecution of the war, in order to secure 
 tibe popular sentiment and allure voters." 
 
 B. — ITS ORGAOTZATION AND OFFICERS. 
 
 From printed copies, heretofore seized by the 
 Government, of the constitutions of the Supreme 
 eouncil. Grand CoxmcU, and County Parent 
 Temples, respectively, of the Order of Sons of 
 Mberty, in connection with other and abundant 
 testimony, the organization of the order, in its 
 latest form, is ascertained to be as follows: 
 
 1. The government of the order throughout 
 the "United States is vested in a supreme coun- 
 cil, of which the oflScers are a supreme com- 
 mander, secretary of state, and treasurer. These 
 officers are elected for one year, at the annual 
 meeting of the supreme council, which is made 
 sp of the grand commanders of the several 
 States, ex o^lcio, and two delegates elected from 
 each State in which the order is established. 
 
 3. The government of the order in a State is 
 vested in a Grand Council, the officers of which 
 are a Grand Commander, Deputy Grand Com- 
 mander, Grand Secretary, Grand Treasurer, and 
 a certain number of Major Generals, or one for 
 each Military District. These officers also are 
 elected annually by "representatives" &*om the 
 County Temples, each Temple being entitled to 
 two representatives, and one additional for each 
 thousand members. This body of representa- 
 tives is also invested with certain legislative 
 fonctions. 
 
 3. The Parent Temple is the organization of 
 the order for a county, each temple being 
 formally instituted by authority of the Supreme 
 Council, or of the Grand CouncU or Grand 
 Commander of the State. By the same au- 
 thority, or by that of the officers of the Parent 
 Temple, branch or subordinate temples may be 
 established for townships in the county. 
 
 But the strength and significance of this or- 
 ganization lie in its military character. The 
 secret constitution of the Supreme CouncU pro- 
 vides that the Supreme Commander " s^^K &e 
 commander-in- chief of all military Jorces belong- 
 ing io the order in tJis various States when called 
 into actual service;^' and further, that the Grand 
 Commanders '^ shall be commande-rs-in-chiej of 
 tlie military forces of their respective fitates. 8ul>- 
 ordinate to the Grand Commander in the State 
 are the " Major Oeit^rcds,'* each of whom com- 
 mands his separate district and army. In In- 
 diana the Major Generals are four in number. 
 In Illinois, where the orgaaization of the Order 
 ia considered most perfectjthe members in each 
 Congressional District corapoea a '•'■brigade,'" 
 whid» is commanded i.y a '■'■Brigaditv General." 
 The members of each county consiitute a ''^regi- 
 ■raeM," with a '■^oolonel" iii command, and 
 t^sa of each township form a -' company.^' A 
 somewhat similar Byeieia prevails in Indiana, 
 ■wlwro also each ectnpany is divided into 
 
 *' squcxls," each with its chief— an arrangemenv 
 intended to facilitate ihegueriHa mode of warfare 
 in case of a general outbreak or local disorder. 
 
 The " McClellan Minute Guard," as appears 
 from a circular issued by the Chief Secretai7 
 in New York in March last, is orgaiuzed upon a 
 military basis similar to that of the erde? 
 proper. It is composed of companies, one foj 
 each election district, ten of which constitute a 
 '• brigade," with a " brigadier general " at its 
 head. The whole is placed under the authoiity 
 of a "commander-in-chief." A strict obe- 
 dience on the part of members to the orders of 
 their superiors is enjoined. 
 
 The first "Supreme Commander" of the • 
 order was P. C. Wright, of New YorSt, 
 editor of the New York News, who was in Maj 
 last placed in arrest and confined in Fort iia- 
 fayette. His successor in office was Vallandig- 
 ham, who was elected at the annual meeting of 
 the Supreme Council in February last. Koberi 
 Holloway, of IlliDois, is represemed to have 
 acted as Lieutenant General, or Deputy Sm 
 preme Commander, during the absence of Yal- 
 landigham from the country. The Secretary oi 
 State chosen at the last election was Dr. Mas- 
 sey, of Ohio. 
 
 In Missouri, the principal officers were Caias . 
 L. Hunt, grand commander, Charles E. Dunu. 
 deputy grand commander, and Green B. Smith , 
 grand secretary. Since the arrest of these thre"6 
 persons (all of whom have made confessioHGj 
 which will be preeenily alluded to), James A. 
 Barrett has, as it is understood, oiliciated aa 
 grand commander. He is stated to occtipy 
 also the position of chief of staff to the Supreme 
 Commander. 
 
 The Grand Commander in Indiana, H. H. 
 Dodd, has just been tried at Indianapolis by a 
 military commission for "conspiracy agaiast 
 the Government," "violation of the laws ©I' 
 war," and other charges. The Deputy Grand 
 Commander in that State is Horace Heffrezi.. 
 and the Grand Secretary, W. M. Harrison. Th£ 
 Msjor Generals are W. A. Bowles, John €. 
 Walker, L. P. Milligan, and Andrew Hom- 
 phreys. Among the other leading members o« 
 the order in that State are Dr. Athon, State 
 secretary, and Joseph Eistine State auditor. 
 
 The Grand Commander in Illinois is 
 
 J add, of Lewistown; and B. L. Piper, of Spring- 
 field, who is entitled "Grand Missionary" oi 
 the State, and designated also as a member ©f 
 Vallandigham's staff, is one of the most aetii'& 
 members, having been busily engaged threugii- 
 out the summer in establishing temples and 
 initiating members. 
 
 Ia Kenttucky, Judge Bullitt, of the Court o/ 
 Appeals, is grand coKmander, and, with Dr. F. 
 F. Kalfus and W. R. Thomas, jailor in Louis- 
 ville, two other of the most prominent mem- 
 oers, has been arrested and confined fey the 
 military authorities. In New York, Dr. E. ¥. 
 Stevens, the chief secretary of the McClellan 
 Minute Guard, is the most active ostensible re- 
 presentative of the secret order. 
 
 The greater part of the chief and su'bordiiiats- 
 officers of the order, and its branches, as weM 
 aa the principal members thereof, are knows to 
 the Government, and, where not already ar- 
 rested, may regard themselves as under a con- 
 stant military surveillance. So complete hac3 
 been the exposure e.f this secret league, tUnt 
 
5 
 
 howover frequently the concplratorB may cliange 
 its name, forms, passwords, snd signals., its true 
 pocpoB^e and opcrDtionc cannot longer be con- 
 cealed from the military authorities. 
 
 It is to be remarked that the Supreme Coun 
 Gil of the order, which annually meets on Feb- 
 roacy23, convened this year at Now York city, 
 aud a special meeting was then appointed to be 
 held at Chicago, on July 1, or just prior to the 
 day then fixed for the convention of the Demo 
 cratic party. This convention having been 
 3>«BtpoBed to August 29, the special meeting of 
 tfao Supreme Council was also postponed to 
 . August 27, at the same place, and was duly 
 convened accordingly. It will be remembered 
 that a leading member of the convention, in 
 the course of a speech made before that body, 
 -aliaded approvingly to the session of the Sons 
 «f Liberty at Chicago at the same time, as that 
 of an organ.zation in harmony with the senti- 
 aient and projects of the convention. 
 
 It may be observed, in conclusion, that one 
 n.ot fully acquainted with the true character and 
 intention of the order might well suppose that, 
 la designating its officers by high military titles, 
 -and in imitating in its organization that esta- 
 WiBhed in our armies, it was designed merely to 
 tender itself more popular and attractive with 
 the masses, and to invest its chiefs with a cer^ 
 taia sham dignity; but when it is understood 
 that the order comprises within itself a large 
 army of well-armed men, constantly drilled 
 and CKercised as soldiers, and that this army is 
 held ready at any time for such forcible resist- 
 ance to our military authorities, and euch active 
 cooperation with the public enemy as it may be 
 called upon to engage in by its commanders, it 
 will be perceived that the titles of the latter are 
 not aesamed for a mere purpose of display, but 
 tbat they are the chiefs of an actual and formi- 
 nJ able force of conspirators against the life of 
 tike Government, and that their military system 
 ifl, ae U has been remarked by Colonel Sander 
 OOB, " the grand lever used by the rebel Govern- 
 taent f»r its army operations." 
 
 lit. — ITS BXTBNT AND NUMBERS. 
 
 The "Temples" or "Lodges" of the order 
 are numerously scattered through the States of 
 Ijadiana, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and Ken- 
 tuoky. They are also officially reported as 
 established, to a less extent, in Michigan 
 arxd the other Western States, as well 
 as in New York, and also in Pennsylvania, 
 New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connebticut, 
 !New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Tennes- 
 see. ^Sodd, the Grand Commander of Indiana, 
 in ao^address to the members in that State of 
 February last, claims that at the next annual 
 meeting of the Supreme Council Hn February, 
 1665), every State in the Union will be repre- 
 sented, and adds, "this is the first and only 
 true national organization the Democratic and 
 Conservative men of the country have ever at- 
 tempted-" A provision made in the constitu- 
 tion of the Council for a representation from the 
 Territories shows, indeed, that the widest ex- 
 tension of the order is contemplated. 
 
 In the States first mentioned the order is most 
 strongly centred at the following places, where 
 are situated its principal "temples." In In- 
 diana, at Indianapolis and Vincennes ; in Illi- 
 nois, at Chicago, Springfield, and Quincy (a 
 
 Urge proportion of the lodges in and about the 
 latter place having been fonnded by the noto- 
 rious guerilla chief, Jackman); in Ohio, at 
 Cincinnati, Dayton, and in Hamilton county 
 (which is proudly termed by members " The 
 South Carolina of the North"); in Missouri, at 
 St. Louis ; in Kentucky, at Louisville ; and in 
 Michigan, at Detroit (whence communicatien 
 was freely hadl by the JeacVfcrs of the order with 
 Vallandigham during his banishment, either by 
 letters addressed to him through two promi- 
 nent citizens and members of the order, or by 
 personal interviews at Windsor, C.W.). It is to 
 be added that the regular places of meeting, as 
 well as the principal rendezvous and haunts of 
 the members in these end less important places, 
 are generally well known to the Govemmeni.. 
 
 The actual numbers of the o?der have, it is 
 believed, never been officially reported, and 
 cannot, therefore, be accurately ascertained. 
 Various estimates have been made by leading 
 members, some of which are no doubt conside- 
 rably exaggerated. It has been asserted by de- 
 legates to the Supreme Council of February 
 last, that the number was there represented to 
 be from 800,000 to 1,000,000 ; but Vallandig- 
 ham, in his speech last summer at Dayton, 
 Ohio, placed it at 500,000, which is probably 
 much nearer the true total. Tift number of its 
 members in the several States has been diflerently 
 estimated in the reports and statements of its 
 officers. Thus, the force of the order in Indiana 
 is stated to be from 75,000 to 125,000; in Illinois, 
 from 100,000 to 140,000 ; in Ohio, from 80,000 to 
 108,000 ; in Kentucky, from 40,000 to 79,000 ; in 
 Missouri, from 20.000 to 40,000; and in Michi- 
 gan and New York, obout 20,000 each. Ite 
 representation in the other States above men- 
 tioned does not specifically appear from the 
 testimony ; but, allowing for every exaggeration 
 in the figures reported, they may be deemed to 
 present a tolerably faithful view of what, at 
 least, is regarded by the order as its true force hi 
 the States designated. 
 
 It is to be noted that the order, or its coun- 
 terpart, is probably much more widely extended 
 at the South even than at the North, and that a 
 large proportion of the officers of the rebel army 
 are represented by most reliable witnesses to be 
 members. In Kentucky and Misoouri, tbe 
 order has not hesitated to admit as members, 
 QOt only officers of that army, but also a con 
 si^erable number of guerillas, a class who 
 might be supposed to appriciate most readily 
 its aims and purposes. It is fuHy shown that 
 ae lately es in July last several of these mfflana 
 were initiated into the first degree by Dr. Kal- 
 fns, in Kentucky. 
 
 IV. ITS AJIMBD POROB. 
 
 A review of the testimony in regard to the 
 armed force of the order will materially aid in 
 determining its real strength and numbers. 
 
 Although the order has from the outset par- 
 taken of the military character, it was not tiB 
 the summer or fall of 1863 that it began to be 
 generally organized as an armed body. Since 
 that date its officers and leaders have been 
 busily engaged in placing it upon a military 
 basis, and in preparing it for a revolutionary 
 movement. A general system of drilling has 
 been instituted and secretly carried out. Mem- 
 bers have been instructed to be constantly pro- 
 
6 
 
 vided with weapoBS, and ia some localities it 
 ^s been abeolutely required that each member 
 fihonld keep at his residence, at all times, cer- 
 tain arms and a specified quantity of ammiinj- 
 tion. 
 
 In March last, the entire armed force of the 
 order, eapable of being mobilized for effective 
 service, was represented to be SiO.OOO men. 
 The details, however, upon which this state- 
 ment was based are imperfectly set forth in 
 the testimony, and it is not known how far this 
 number may be exaggerated. It is abundantly 
 shown, however, that th« order, by means of a 
 *ax levied xjpon its members, has accumulated 
 considerable lunds for the purchase of arms 
 and ammunition, and that these have been 
 procured in large quantities for its use. The 
 witness Clayton, on the trial of Dodd, esti- 
 mated that two-thirds of the order are furnished 
 with arms. 
 
 Green B. Smith, grand secretary of the order 
 in Missouri, states in his confession of July 
 last: "I know that arms, mostly revolvers, and 
 ammunition have been purchased by members 
 in St. Louis to send to members in the country 
 where they could not be had;" and he subse- 
 quently adds that he himself alone clandes- 
 tinely purchased and forwarded, between April 
 15th and 19th last, about 2€0 revolvers, with 
 5,600 percussion caps and ether ammunition. 
 A muster roll of one of the country lodges of 
 that State is exhibited, in which, opposite the 
 name of each member, are noted certain num- 
 bers, under the heads of "Missouri Republi- 
 can," "St. Louis Union, =' "Anzeiger," "Mis- 
 cellaneous Periodicals," "Books," "Speeches," 
 and "Reports;" titles which, when interpre- 
 t.ed, severally signify single-barrelled guns, dou- 
 T)l0-bar relied guns, revolvers, private ainmunitieny 
 private lead, company powder, company had; 
 iheroU thus actually setting forth the amount 
 of arms and ammunition in the possession Ol 
 the lodge and its members. 
 
 In the States of Ohio and Illinois, tbe order 
 is claimed by its members to be unusually well 
 armed with revolvers, carbines, &c. ; but it is in 
 regard to the arming of the order iu Indiana 
 that the principal statistics have been presented, 
 and these may serve to illustrate the sys- 
 tem which has probably been pursued in most 
 of the States. One intelligent witness, who has 
 been a member of the order, estimates that ia 
 March last there were in possession •f the 
 order in that State 6,0«0 muskets and 60,000 re- 
 volvers, besides private arms. Another member 
 testifies that at a single lodge meeting of two 
 hundred and fifty- two persons, which he attend- 
 ed early in the present year, the sum of $4,000 
 was subscribed for arms. Other members pre- 
 sent statements iu regard to the number oi: 
 arms iu their respective counties, and all agree 
 in representing that these have been constantly 
 forwarded from Indianapolis into the interior. 
 Beck & Brothers is designated as the firm in 
 that city to which most of the arms were con- 
 signed. These were shipped principally from 
 the East; pome packages, however, were sent 
 from Cincinnati, and some from Kentucky, and 
 the boxes were generally marked "pick-axes," 
 "hardware," "nails," household eoods," &c. 
 General Carricgton eslimatrs that in Feb- 
 ruary and March last nearly 30,000 guns and 
 revolvers entered the State, and this esti- 
 
 mate is based upon an actual inspection ot in 
 voices. The true number introduced was tber s- 
 fore probably considerably greater. That oflieer 
 adds that oh the day in which the sale of arms 
 was stopped by his order, in Indianapolis, nearly 
 1,000 additional revolvers had been contracted 
 for, and that the trade could not supply the ^e- 
 matid. He further reports that after the in- 
 troduction of arms into the Department oi 
 the North had been prohibited in Gene- 
 ral Orders of March last, a seizure was 
 made by the Government of a laj^e 
 quantity of revolvers and 135,000 rounds of ara- 
 munition, whichhad been shipped to theflrmki 
 ludianapalis, of which H. H. Dodd, Grand Coaa- 
 mander, was a member ; that other arms aboiit 
 to be shipped to the same destination were seiaeit 
 in New York city ; and that all these were 
 claimed as the private property of John ^. 
 Walker, one of the Major Generals of ths 
 order in Indiana, and were represented to have 
 been ^'■purcfiascdfor afeio frietids." iti3t»5)e 
 added that at the office of Hon. D. W. Voos^- 
 hees, M. C, at Terre Haute, were discovered 
 letters which disclbsed a correspondence be- 
 tween him and ex -Senator Wall, of New Jersey, 
 in regard to the purchase of 20,000 GaiitaW; 
 rifles, to be forwarded to the West. 
 
 It appears in the course of the testimony, that 
 a considerable quantity of arms and amrautti- 
 tion were brought into the State of Illinois from 
 Barlington, Iowa, and that ammunition wai 
 shipped from New Albany, Indiana, into Ken- 
 tucky ; it is also repi^sented that, had Valian- 
 digham been arrested on his return to Ohio, i* 
 was contemplated furnishioi? the order wittt 
 arms from a point in Canada, near Windsov, 
 where they were stored and ready for use. 
 
 There remains farther to be noticed, iu this 
 connection, the testimony of Clayton upon tbe 
 trial of Dodd, to tbe effect that arms were to be 
 furnished the order from Nassau, N. P., by way 
 of Canada ; that, to defray the expense of these 
 arms or their transportation, a formal SBsesti- 
 ment was levied upon the lodges, but that the 
 transportation into Canada was acinally to be 
 famished by the Confederate authorities. 
 
 A statement was made by Hunt, Grand Com- 
 mander of Missouri, before his arrest, to a fel- 
 low member, that shells and all kinds of muni- 
 tions of war, as well as infernal machines, were 
 manufactured for the order at Indianapolis; and 
 the late discovery in Cincinnati of samples of 
 hand-grenades, conical shells, and rockets, of 
 which one thousand were about to be manufac- 
 tured, under a special contract, for the 0. 3. L., 
 goes directly to verify such a statement. 
 
 These details will convey some idea of the at- • 
 tempts which have been made to place the order 
 upon a war footing and prepare it for aggressive 
 movements. But, notwithstanding all the ef- 
 forts that have been put forth, and with con- 
 siderable success, to arm and equip its members 
 as fighting men, the leaders of tbe order have 
 felt themselves still very deficient in their arma- 
 ment, and numerous schemes for increasing 
 their armed strength have been devised. Thus, 
 at the time of the issuing of the general order 
 in Missouri requiring the enrolment of sM 
 citizens, it wa« proposed in the lodges ol 
 the O. A. K., at St. Louis, that certain mem- 
 bers should raise companies in the militia, in 
 their irespective wards, and thus get comman«l 
 
of as msny Governmeat arms and equipments 
 as poseMe, for the future use of the order. 
 Again it was proposed that all the members 
 shotfld enroll themselves in the militia, instead 
 of paying commulation, in this way obtaining 
 possession of United States arms, and having 
 the advantage of the drill and military instruc- 
 tion. In the council^ of the order in Kentucky 
 in June last, a scheme was devised for disarm- 
 faig all the negro troops, v?hich it was thought 
 cot^d be done withoui. much difiiculty, and ap- 
 pi'opriating their arms for the purposes of the 
 <5» Order. 
 
 The despicable treachery of these proposed 
 plans, as evincing the ayiimus of the conspi- 
 racy, need not be commented upon. 
 
 It is to be observed that the order in the 
 State of Missouri has counted greatly upon 
 support from the enrolled militia, in case of an 
 invasion by Price, as containing many mem- 
 bers and friends of the O. A. K.; and that the 
 "Paw-Paw militia," a military organization of 
 Buohanan county, as well as the militia of 
 Platte and Clay counties, known as "Flat 
 Foots," have been relied upon, almost to a 
 man, to join the revolutionary movement. 
 
 V. ITS RITUAL, OATHS, AND INTERIOIl TORMS. 
 
 The ritual of the order, as well as its secret 
 signs, passwords, &c., has been fully made 
 known lo the military authorities. In August 
 last, one hundred and twelve copies of the 
 ritual of the O. A. K. were seized in the office of 
 Hon. D. W. Voorhees, JI. C, at Terre Haute, 
 and a large number of rituals of the O. 8. 
 L., together with copies of the constitutions of 
 the councils, &c., already referred to, were 
 found in the building at Indianapolis, occu- 
 pied by Dodd, the Grand Commander oflndi- 
 anna, as iiad been indicated by the Govern- 
 ment •wit^gs and detective, Stidger. Copies 
 were also discovered at Louisville, at the resi- 
 dence of Dr. Kalfus, concealed within the 
 mattress of his bed, where, also, Stidger had 
 ascertained that they were kept. 
 
 The ritual of the O. A. K. has also been fur- 
 nished by the authorities at St. Louis. From 
 tihis ritual, that of the O. S. L. does not mate- 
 rially differ. Both are termed "progressive," 
 in^lhat they provide for ^ye separate degrees of 
 membership, and contemplate the admission of 
 a member of a lower degree into a higher one 
 only upon certain vouchers and proofs of fit- 
 ness, which, with each ascending degree, are re- 
 <iuired lo be stronger and more imposing. 
 
 Each degree has its commander or head ; the 
 Fourth or "Grand" is the highest in a State; the 
 Fjifth or " Supreme," the highest in the United 
 States ; but to the first or lower degree only do 
 ttie great majority of members attain. A large 
 proportion of these enter the order, supposing 
 it to be a " Democratic " and political associa- 
 tion merely ; and the history of the order 
 furnishes a most striking illustration of the 
 gnss and criminal deception which may be 
 practised upon the ignorant masses by un- 
 acnpnlous and unprincipled leaders. The mem- 
 bers of the lower degree are often for a con- 
 siderable period kept quite unaware of the true 
 purposes of their chiefs. Bat to the latter they 
 are bound by their obligation" to yield prompt 
 and implicit obedience to the utmost of their 
 ability, without remonstrance, hesitation, or 
 delay," and meanwhDe their minds, p.nder the 
 
 diseipline and teaehings to which they are Fn^- 
 jected, become educated and accustomed to 
 contemplate with comparative unconcern the 
 treason for which they are preparing. 
 
 The oaths, "invocations," "charges," «ftc., 
 of the ritual, expressed as ibey are in bombas- 
 tic and extravagant phraseology, would excit© 
 in the mind of an educated person only ridicule 
 or contempt, but upon the illiterate they are 
 calculated to make a deep impression, the effect 
 and importance of which were dwubtless fully 
 studied by the framers of the inetrument. 
 
 The oath whicu is administered upon the io- 
 troduction of a member into any degree is espe- 
 cially impofcing in its language; it prescribes 83 
 a penalty for a violation of'the obligation as- 
 sumed, " ashameful death, "andfurtherthat the 
 body of the person guilty of sxich violation ehaU 
 be divided in four parts and cast out at the 
 four " gates" of the temple. Not only, as has 
 been said, does it enjoin a blind obedience to 
 the orders of the superiors of the order, but it. 
 is required to be held of paramo7int obligation to 
 any oath which may be administered to a mem- 
 ber in a court of justice or elsewhere. Thus, ii5 
 cases where members have been sworn, by offi- 
 cers empowered to administer oaths, to spealr 
 the whole truth in answer to questions that may 
 be put lo them, and have then been examinee! 
 in reference to the order and their connection 
 therewith, they have not only refused to give 
 any information in regard to its character, hv: 
 have denied that they were members, or even 
 that they knew of its existence. A conspicuoTis 
 instance of this is presented in the cases ot 
 Hunt, Duna, and Smith, the chief officers of the 
 order Jn Missouri, who, upon their first exami- 
 nation under oath, after their arrest, denied all 
 connection with the order, but confessed, also 
 under oath, at a subsequent period, that this 
 denial was wholly false, although in accordance 
 with their obligations as members of the order. 
 Indeed, a deliberate system of deception in re- 
 gard to the details ol the conspiracy is incul- 
 cated upon the members, and studiously pur- 
 sued; and it may be mentioned in this connec- 
 tion, as a similarly despicable feature of tM 
 organization, that it is held bound to injurcthe 
 Administration and officers of the Govern/iTent, 
 in every possible manner, by misrepresentation 
 and falsehood. 
 
 Members are also instructed that their oaU» 
 of membership is to be held paramount to an 
 oath of allegiance, or any other oath which 
 may impose obligations inconsistent with those 
 which are assumed upon entering the order. 
 Thus, if a member, when in danger, or for the 
 purpose of facilitating some traitorous design, 
 has taken the oath of allegiance to the United 
 States, he is held at liberty to violate it on the 
 first occasion, his obligation to the order being 
 deemed superior to any consideration of doty 
 or loyalty prompted by such oath. 
 
 It is to be added that where members are 
 threatened with the penalties of perjury, in caee 
 of their answering falsely to questions pro- 
 pounded to them in regard to the order before 
 a court or grand jury, they are instructed to 
 refase to answer such questions, alleging as a 
 ground for their refusal that their answers may 
 crifninate themselves. The testimony shows 
 tlial this course has habitually been pnrsaed by 
 members, especially in Ind'ana, when placed Jn 
 such a situation. 
 
Beside the oaths and other forms and cere- 
 mo..ies which have been alluded to, the ritual 
 c<!>Jitains what are termed " Declarations of 
 Fi'iiieiipiee." These declaretionB, which are 
 most important as exhibiting the creed and 
 bliaracteir of the order, as inspired by the prin- 
 ciples of the rebellion, will be liilly presented 
 tmder the next branch of the subject. 
 
 The signs, signals, passwords, Ac, of the order 
 st'e set forth at length in the testimony, but 
 jneed only be briefly alluded to- It is a most 
 significant fact, as showing the intimate rela- 
 tions between the northern and southern sections 
 of the secret conspiracy, that a member from a 
 Northern Stg.te is enabled to pass without risk 
 through the South by the use of the signs of re- 
 cognition which have been established through- 
 out the order, and by means of which members 
 fcomdistantpoints,thoughmeeting as strangers, 
 are at once made known to each others as "bro- 
 thers." Mary Ann Pitman expressly states In 
 h/6T testinaony that whenever important de- 
 spatches are required to be sent by rebel gene- 
 rais beyond their lines, members of the order 
 are always selected to convey them. Certain 
 passwords are also used in common in both sec- 
 tions, and of these, none appears to be more 
 familiar than the word "Nu-oh-lac," or the 
 ttame " Calhoun" spelt backward, and which is 
 employed upon entering a temple of the first 
 degree of the O. A. K. — certainly a fitting pass- 
 word to such dens of treason. 
 
 Beside the signs of recognition, there are 
 »i~]ns oj warning and danger, for use at nigbt as 
 well as by day; as, for instance, signs to 
 warn members of the approach of United 
 States officials seeking to make arrests. 
 IJhe order has also established "what are 
 called baiUe-signals, by means of "which, as 
 is, ia asserted, a member serving in the army 
 may communicate with the enemy in the field, 
 ajad thus escape personal harm in case of attack 
 or capture. The most recent of these signals 
 represented lo have |been adopted by the order 
 iii a hve-pointed copper star, worn under the 
 «iMit, which is to be disclosed upon meeting an 
 eiaeji» V, who will thus recognize in the wearer 
 a sympathizer and an ally. A similar star of 
 <jr€rman silver, hung in a frame, is said to be 
 aumerously displayed by members or their fa- 
 milies in private houses in Indiana, for the pur- 
 pose oi insuring protection to their property in 
 case of a raid or other attack ; and it is stated 
 that in many dwellings in that State, a portrait 
 of John Morgan is exhibited for a similar pui"- 
 pose. 
 
 Other signs are used by members, and espe- 
 cially the officers of the order, in their corre- 
 spondence. Their letters, when of an official 
 chaiacter, are generally conveyed by special 
 messengers, but when transmitted through the 
 mail, are usually in cipher. When written in 
 the ordinary manner, a character at the foot of 
 the latter, consisting of a circle with a line 
 <'urawn across the centre, signities to the mem- 
 ber who receives it that the statements as writ- 
 ten are to be understood in a eense direoliy the 
 opposite to that which would ordinarily be con<- 
 veyed. 
 
 it is to be added that the meetings of the or- 
 der, especially in the country^ are generally 
 held at night and in secluded places., and that 
 the approach to them is carefully guarded by a 
 
 line of sentinels, who are passed only by means 
 of a special countersign, which is termed the 
 "picket." 
 
 VI. ITS WRITTEN PRINCIPLES. 
 
 The " Declaration of Principles," which is set 
 forth in the ritual of the order, has already been 
 alluded to. This declaration, which is spe- 
 cially framed for the instruction of the great 
 mass of members, commences with the follow- 
 ing specious proposition : 
 
 " All men are endowed by the Creator with 
 certain rights, equal as far as there is equality 
 in the capacity for the appreciation, enjoyment, 
 and exercise of those rights." And subse- 
 quently there is added : ** In the Divine econo- 
 my no" individual of the human race must be 
 permitted to encumber the earth, to mar its as- 
 pects of transcendent beauty, nor to impede the 
 progress of the physical or intellectual man, 
 neither in himself nor in the race to which he 
 belongs. Hence, a people, upon whatever plane 
 they may be found in the ascending scale of 
 humanity, whom neither the divinity within 
 them nor the inspirations of divine and beauti- 
 ful nature around them can impel to virtuous 
 action and progress onward and upward, should 
 be subjected a just and humane servitude and 
 tutelage to the superior race, untU they shall 
 be able to appreciate the benefits and advan- 
 tages of civilization." 
 
 Here, expressed in terms of studied hypo- 
 crisy, is the whole theory of human bondage — 
 the right of the strong, because they are strong, 
 to despoil and enslave the weak, because they 
 are weak ! The languages of earth can add no- 
 thing to the cowardly and loathsome baseness 
 of the doctrine, as thus announced. It is the 
 robber's creed, sought to be nationalized, and 
 would push back the hand on the dial plate o£ 
 our civilisation to the darkest periods of huatan 
 history. It must b^ admitted, however, that k 
 furnishes a fitting '' corner-stone" for the go- 
 vernment of a rebellion, e rery fibre of whose 
 body and every throb of whose soul is born of 
 the traitorous ambition and slave-pen inspira- 
 tions of the South. 
 
 To these detestable tenets is added that other 
 pernicious political theory of State sovereignty, 
 with its necessary fruit, the monstrous doctrine 
 of Secession — a doctrine which, in asserting 
 that in our federative system a part is greater 
 than the whole, would compel the GeneraLGo- 
 vernment, like a Japanese slave, to commit 
 hari-kari whenever a faithless or insolent State 
 should command it to do so. 
 
 Thus, the ritual, after reciting that the States 
 of the Union are " free, independent, [and sove- 
 reign," proceeds as follows : 
 
 *' The Government designated ' The United 
 States of America' has no sovereignty, because 
 that is an attribute with which the people, in 
 their several and distinct political organizations, 
 are endowed, and is inalienable. It was consti- 
 tuted by the terms of the compact, by all the 
 States, through the express will of the people 
 thereof, respectively — a common agent, to use 
 and exercise certain named, specified, defined, 
 and limited powers which are Inherent of the 
 sovereignties within those States. It is permit- 
 ted, so far as regards its status and relations, as 
 common agent in the exercise of the powers 
 carefully and jealously delegated to it, to call 
 itself 'supreme,' but not '■sovereign.^ In ac- 
 
cordtiuco with the principles upon which is 
 tOTindcd the Ameruran. theory, Government can 
 aierciBC only delegated power ; hence, if those 
 wlio bhall hBV3 been chosen to administer the 
 (jroverament shall assume to exercise poweBS 
 not delegated, they should be regarded and 
 treated as usurpers. The reference to ' inherent 
 power,' 'war power,' or 'military necessity.' 
 on the part of the functionary for the sanction 
 of an arbitrary exercise of power by him, we will 
 not accept in palliation or excuse." 
 
 To this is added, as a corollary, " it is in- 
 compatible with the history and nature of our 
 system of government that Federal authority 
 should cotrce by arms a sovereign State." 
 
 The declaration of principles, however, doee 
 not stop here, but proceeds one step farther, as 
 loUows : 
 
 " Whenever the chosen officers or delegates 
 shall fail or refuse to administer the Govern- 
 ment in strict accordance with the letter of the 
 accepted Constitution, it is the inherent right 
 and the solemn and imperative duty of the peo- 
 ple to resist the functionaries, and, if need be, 
 to erpei them byjorce of arms ! Such resistance 
 is not revolution, but is solely the assertion of 
 right — the exercise of all the noble attributes 
 which impart honor and dignity to manhood, " 
 
 To the same effect, though in a milder tone. 
 Is the platform of the order in Indiana, put 
 forth by the Grand Council at their meeting in 
 February last, which declares that " the right 
 to alter or abolish their government, whenever 
 it fails to secure the blessings of liberty, is one 
 of the inalienable rights of the people that can 
 aever be surrendered." 
 
 Such then are the principles which the new 
 member swears to observe and abide by in his 
 obligation, set forth In the ritual, where he 
 says: "I do solemnly promise that I will ever 
 cherish in my heart of hearts the sublime creed 
 oC the E. K. (Excellent Ejiights), and will, so 
 far as in me lies, illustrate the same in my in- 
 tercourse with men, and wiU defend the principles 
 thereof, if need be, with my life, whensoever as- 
 sailed, in my own country first of all. I do fur- 
 liber solemnly declare that I will never take np 
 arms in behalf of any government which does not 
 acknowledge the sole authority or power to be 
 the will of the governed." 
 
 In the same connection may be quoted the 
 following extracts from the ritual, as illustrat- 
 ing the principle of the right of revolution 
 aoii resistance to constituted authority in- 
 sisted upon by the order: 
 
 "Out swords shall be unsheathed whenever 
 the great principles which we aim to inculcate 
 and have sworn to maintain and defend are 
 assaUed." 
 
 Again. "I do solemenly promise, that when 
 soever the principles which our order inenlcateb 
 shall be assailed in my own State or country, 1 
 willd*!fend these principles with my sword and 
 my life, in whatsoever capacity may be assigned 
 me by the competent authority of our order." 
 
 And further: "I do promise that I will, at 
 all times, if needs be, take up arms in thecause 
 of the oppressed — in my own country first ot 
 all — against any power or government usurped, 
 which may be found in arms and waging war 
 against a people or peoples who are endeavor- 
 ing to establish, or have inaugurated, a govern 
 • laont for themselves of their own free choice.'- 
 
 Moreover, it is to be noted that all the ad- 
 dresses and speeches of its leaders breathe the 
 same principle, ef the right of forcible resie- 
 tance to the Government, as one of the tenete 
 of the order. 
 
 Thus P. C. Wright, Supreme Commander, in. 
 his general address of December, I860, after 
 urging that "the spirit of the fathers may ani- 
 mate the free minds, the brave hearts, and stiM 
 unshackled limbs of the true democraaf^ (mean- 
 ing the members of the order), adds es fol- 
 lows : "To be prepared for the crisis now ap- 
 proaching, we must catch from afar the ear- 
 liest and faintest breathings of the spirit of 
 the storm ; to be successful when the storm, 
 comes, we must be watchful, patient, brave, 
 confident, organized, armed.'^ 
 
 Thus, too,"Dodd, Grand Commander of the 
 order in Indiana, quoting, in his address of 
 February last, the views of his chief, Vallan- 
 digham. and adopting them as his own, says : 
 
 He (Vallandigham) judges that the Wash- 
 ington power will not yield up its power, un- 
 til it is taken from them by an indignant peo- 
 ple, by force of arms.' ^ 
 
 Such, then, are the written principles of the 
 order in which the neophyte is instructed, and 
 which he is sworn to cherish and observe as 
 his rule of action, when, with arms placed in 
 hia hands, he is called upon to engage in the 
 overthrow of his Government. This declara- 
 tion — first, of the absolute right of slavery .- 
 second, of ^tate sovereignty and the right of 
 secession ; third, of the right of armed resis- 
 tance to constituted authority on the part of 
 the disaffected and the disloyal, whenever their 
 ambition may prompt them to revolution — is 
 but an assertion of that abominable theory 
 which, from its first enunciation, served as a 
 pretext for conspiracy after conspiracy against 
 the Government on the part of Southern trai 
 tors, until their detestable plotting culminated 
 in open rebellion and bloody civil war. What 
 more appropriate name, therefore, to be com- 
 municated as a password to the new member 
 upon his first admission to the secrets of the 
 order could have been conceived, than that 
 which was actually adopted— that of "Cal- 
 houn !" — a man, who, bafllled in his lust for 
 power, with gnashing teeth, turned upon the 
 Government that had lifted him to its highest 
 honors, and upon the country that had borne 
 him, and down to the very close of his fevered 
 life, labored incessantly to scatter far and wide 
 the seeds of that poison of death, now upon cm 
 lips. The thorns which now pierce and tear us 
 are of the tree he planted. 
 
 vs. — IT3 SPBCMFIC PtTtPOSES AND OPBBATIOMS. 
 
 From the principles of the order, as thus set 
 forth, its general purpose of cooperating with 
 the rebellion may readily be inferred, and, in 
 fact, those principles could logically lead to no 
 other result. This general purpose, indeed, is 
 distinctly set forth in the personal statementB 
 and confessions of its members, and partien- 
 larly of its prominent officers, who have been 
 induced to make disclosures to the Government. 
 Among the most significant of these confes- 
 sions are those already alluded to, of Hunt, 
 Dunn, and Smith, the heads of the order in 
 Missouri. The Latter, whose statemen'- is fill 
 and explicit, says : " At the time 1 joined the 
 
10 
 
 si'der, 1 understood that its object was to aid 
 and assist the Confederate Government, and 
 endeavor to restore the Union as it was prior to 
 this rebellion." He adds: "The order is hos- 
 tile in every'respect to the General Government, 
 and friendly" to the so-called Confederate €tO- 
 Temment. It is exclnsively made np of dis- 
 loyal persons — of all Democrats who are desi- 
 Toas of securing the independence of the Con- 
 federate States, with a view of restorjas; the 
 Union as it was." 
 
 it would be idle to comment on such gib- 
 berish as the statement that "the independence 
 of the Confederate States" was t& be used as 
 tke means of restoring "the Union as it was;" 
 and jet, under the manipulations of these 
 trattorous jugglers, doubtless the brains of 
 many have been so far muddled as to accept 
 tbis shameless declaration as true. 
 
 But to proceed to the specific purposes of the 
 ©rder, which its leaders have had in view froiD 
 the beginning, and which, as will be seen, it 
 has been able, in many cases, t& carry oiit with 
 very considerable success, the following are 
 found to be most pointedly presented by the 
 iestimony. 
 
 1. Aidmg Soldiersto Desert, a'/id Sarhoring and 
 Protecting Deserters.— ^arly in its history the 
 Brder essayed to undermine such portions of 
 the army as were exposed to its insidious ap- 
 proaches. Agents were sent by the K. G. C. into 
 Ihe camps to introduce the order among the 
 5«ldiers, and those who became members were 
 Instructed to induce as many of their compa- 
 nions as possible to desert, and for this pur- 
 pose the latter were furnished by the order with 
 oroBey and citizens' clothing. Soldiers who 
 hesitated at desertion, but desired to leave the 
 army, were introduced to lawyers who engaged 
 to furnish them some q^iasi legal pretest for so 
 doing, and a certain attorney of Indianapolis, 
 •named Walpole, who was particularly con- 
 spicuous in furnishing facflities of this cha- 
 racter to soldiers who applied to him, has 
 boasted that he has thus aided five hundred en- 
 listed men to escape from their contracts. 
 Through the schemes of the order in Indiana, 
 whole companies were broken up; a large de- 
 iachment. of a battery company, for instance, 
 deserting on one occasion to the enemy, with 
 two of its guns, and the camps were imbued 
 with a spirit of discontent and dissatisfaction 
 with the service. Some estimate of the num- 
 lier of deserters at this time may t)e derived 
 fc-om a report of the Adjutant General of In- 
 diana, of January, in 18G3, setting forth that 
 the number of deserters and absentees returned 
 to the army through the post of Indisnapolis 
 alone, daring the month of December, 1862, 
 was nearly two thousand six hundred. 
 
 As soon as arrests of these deserters began to 
 be generally made, writs of habeas corpyis were 
 issued in tneir cases by disloyal judges, and a 
 considerable number were discharged thereon. 
 In one instance m Indiana, where an oiBficer in 
 charge of a deserter properly refused to obey thf 
 writ, alter it had been suspended in STieh casets 
 by the Presid-ent, his attachment for con- 
 tempt was ordered by the chief justice 
 of the State, who declared that *'tbe streets ot 
 Indianapolis might run with blood, but that ho 
 woidd enforce his authority against the Presi- 
 dOTit's order." On another occesion cert.air 
 
 CFnited States officers who had made the arrest 
 of deserters in Illinois were themeelves arrested, 
 .•"or kidnapping, aad held to trial by a disloyal 
 judge, who at the same time discharged the 
 deserters, though «oknowledging tkem to be 
 such. 
 
 Soldiers, upon deserting, were assured of im- 
 munity from punishment, and protection on tke 
 part of the order, and were instructed to bring 
 away with them their arms, and, if mounted, 
 their horses. Details sent to arrest them \»y the 
 military authorities were in several oases foi- 
 cibly resisted, and, where not unusually strong 
 in numbers, were driven back by large bodies 
 of men, subsequently generally ascertained to 
 be members of the order. Where arrests were 
 effected, our troops were openly attacked and 
 fired upon, on their return. Instances of such 
 attacks occurring in Morgan and Rush coun- 
 ties, Indiana, are especlBllj noticed by GeoeBal 
 Carrington. In the case of the outbreak in 
 Morgan county, J. S. Bingham, editor of the 
 Indianapolis iSentinel, a member or friend of 
 the order, sought to forward to the disloyal 
 newspapers of the West false and inflammatory 
 telegraphic despatches in regard to the affaiTj 
 to the effect that cavalry had been sent to «i- 
 resi all the Democrats in the county, that they 
 had committed gross outrages, and fchat several 
 citizens had beea shot; and adding: '"Ben 
 thousand soldiers cannot hold the men arrested 
 this aight. Civil war and bloodshed are inevi- 
 table." The assertions in the despatch were 
 entirely false, and may serve to illustrate the 
 fact heretofore' noted, that a studious misrepre- 
 sentation in regard to the acts of the Govern- 
 ment and its officers is a part of the prescribed 
 duty of members of the order. It is to be added 
 that seven of the party in Morgan county who 
 made the attack upon our troops were con- 
 victed of their offence by a State court. "Bpon 
 their trial it was proved that the party was com- 
 posed of members of the K. G. C. 
 
 One of the most pointed instances of protec- 
 tion furnished to deserters occurred in a casein 
 IncMana, where seventeen deserters entrenched 
 themselves in a log cabin with a ditch and pa- 
 lisade, and were furnished with provisions and 
 sustained in their defence against oar mklitaiy 
 authorities for a considerable period by the 
 order or its friends. 
 
 2. Discouraging Urdistments aatd Jiesisting 
 the Draft. — It is especially inculcated by the 
 order to oppose the reinforcement ol ovs 
 armies, either by volunteers or drafted men. 
 in 1862, the Knights of the Golden Circle 
 organized generally to resist the draft in the 
 Western States, and were strong enough in cer- 
 tain localities to greatly embarrass the Govena- 
 ment. In this year and early in 186S, a num- 
 ber of enrolling officers were shot in Indiana 
 and Illinois. In Blackford county, Iniiona, an 
 attack was made upon the court-house, andthe 
 books connected with the draft were destroyed. 
 In several counties of the State a considerable 
 military force was required for the protection ©f 
 the Unltid States officials, and a large number 
 of arrests were made, including that of one- 
 Reynolds, an ex- Senator of the tegielature, for 
 publicly urging upon the populace to rtsist tJhe 
 conscription — an offence of the same character, 
 in fact, as that upon which Vallandigham wae- 
 apprehended ia Ohio. These outbreaks were.. 
 
11 
 
 ao doubt, in most caseB, i.icittd by the order, 
 and engaged in by its members. In Indiann 
 nearly 209 porsoDS were indicted for conspiracy 
 against the Government, resisting the draft, 
 &C.. and about sixty of these were convicted. 
 
 Where members of the order were forced int i 
 tfae army by the draft, they were instructed, iu 
 case they were pre\'tnted from presently es- 
 caping, and were obliged to go to the Held, to 
 nse their arms in battle against their fellow- 
 EOtdiers, rather than the enemy, or, if possible, 
 to desert to tJie enemy, by whom, through the 
 signs of the order, they would be recognized 
 £Hid received as friends. It is to be added that 
 whenever a member volunteered in the army, he 
 was at OBce expelled from the order. 
 
 S. Oircuiatlon of Disloyal cmd Treasonable Pvbli- 
 JMPions, — The order, especially in Missouri, has 
 secretly circulated throughout the country s 
 great quantity of treasonable publications, as a 
 means of extending its own power and influence, 
 as well as ofgiving encouragement to the disloya! 
 and inciting them to treason. Of these, some 
 of the principal are the following: "Pollard's 
 Southern History of the War," " Official Re- 
 ports of the Confederate Government," "Life 
 of Stonewall Jackson," pamphlets containing 
 articles from the " Metropolitan Record," 
 *' Abraham Africanus, or Mysteries of the 
 White House," "The Lincoln Catechism, or a 
 G«iid« to the Presidential election of 1864," 
 *' Indestructible Organtcs," by Tirga, These 
 publications have generally been procured by 
 formal requisitions tlrawnupon the grand com- 
 mander by leading members in the interior 
 of a 8taie. One of these requieitions, dated 
 JuHU 1-Oth last, and drawn by a local secretary 
 of the order at Gentery ville. Mo., is exhibited in 
 the testimony. It contains a column of the 
 initials of a Eumber of subscribers, opposite 
 whose names are entered the number of disloyal 
 publications to be furnished, the particular 
 book or books, &c., required being indicated by 
 fictitious titles. 
 
 4. ConvmimicatiTKi with, and O-iving Intelligence 
 to, the Knemy. — dmifi, Grand Secretary of 
 the order in Jlissonri, says, in his confession : 
 "Rebel spies, mail-carriers, and emissaries 
 have been carefully protected by this order ever 
 since I have been a member." It is shown in 
 the testimony to be customary in the rebel ser- 
 vice to employ members of the order as spies, 
 under the guise of soldiers furnished with fur- 
 loughs to visit their homes within our lines. 
 On coming within the territory occupied by our 
 forces, they are harbored and supplied with in- 
 formation by the order. Another class of spies 
 claim to be deserters from the enemy, and at 
 once seek an opportunity to lake the oath of al- 
 legiance, which, however, though voluntarily 
 taken, they claim to be administered while they 
 are under a species of duress, and, therefore, 
 not to be binding. Upon swearing; allegiance 
 to the Government, the pretended deserter en- 
 iBjages, with tbe assistance of the order, in col- 
 lecting contraband goods or procuring intellj- 
 g:ence to be convejed to tbe enemy, or in some 
 other treasonable enterprise. In his official re- 
 port of June 13th last, Colonel Saaderson ro 
 marks: "This department is tilled with rebel 
 spies, all of whom belong to the order." 
 
 In Missouri, regular mail communication was 
 for a long period maintained through the 
 
 agency of the orierf rom 8t. Louis to Pricfc'e 
 army, by means of which private letters as weB 
 as official despatches between him and the 
 Grand Commander of Missouri were regularly 
 transmitted. The mail- carriers started from a 
 ■ooint on the Pacific railroad, near Klrkwood 
 Station, about fourteen miles from St. Louis, 
 and, travelling only by night, proceeded (t© 
 quote from Col . Sanderson's report) to"Mat- 
 tox Mills, on the Maramee river, theace pass 
 Mineral Point to Webster, thence to a point 
 fifteen miles below Van Bnren, where they 
 crossed the Block river, and thence to the rebel 
 lines." It is, probably, also by this route that 
 the secret correspondence, stated by the witness 
 Pitman to have been constantly kept up between 
 Price and Vallandigham, the heads of the orde^ 
 at the North and South, respectively, was <sa* 
 cessfully maintained. 
 
 A similar com-muication has been contiau- 
 ouely held with the enemy from Louisville, Ken- 
 tucky. A considerable number of women ic 
 that State, many of them of high position ire 
 rebel society, and some of them outwardly pro- 
 fessing to be loyal, were discovered to have 
 been actively engaged in receiving and for- 
 warding mails, with the oseistance of the order 
 and as its instrnmenta. Two of the most noto- 
 rious and successful of these, Mrs. Woods and 
 Miss Cassell, have been apprehended and ka • 
 prisoned. 
 
 By means of this correspondence with the 
 enemy, the members of the order were promptly 
 apprised of all raids to be made by tlw3 forces of 
 the former, and were able to hold them- 
 selves prepared to render aid and coralor-i 
 to the raidei-8. To show how efficieai 
 for this purpose was tbe system thus esta- 
 blished, it is to be added that our railitarj' 
 authorities have, in a number of cases, been in- 
 formed, through members of the order, em- 
 ployed in the interest of the Government, of 
 impending raids, and important army move- 
 ments of the rebels, not only days, but some- 
 times weeks, sooner than the same intelligence 
 eould have reached them through the ordinaFy 
 channels. 
 
 On the olherhand, the system oieapionage kept 
 up by the order, for the purpose of obtaining 
 informal'on of the movements of our own 
 forces, &c., to be imparted to the enemy, eeeniB 
 to have been as perfect as it was secret. Tbe 
 Grand Secretary of the order iu Missouri statee, 
 in hia confession: " One of the especial objeete 
 of this order was to place members in steam- 
 boats, ferryboats, telegraph offices, exprese 
 offices, department headquarters, provost mar- 
 shal's office, and, in fact, in every position 
 where they could do valuable service;" and he 
 proceeds to specify certain members who, at 
 the date of his confession (August 3d lost), 
 were employed at the express and telegra^ 
 offices in St. Louis. 
 
 5. Aiding the Enemy, by Recruitingjor them, er 
 Asiisting them to Jiccruit, within our lines. — Thio 
 has also tieen extensively carried on by meno- 
 bers of the ordpr, particularly in Kentucky and 
 Missouri. It is estimated that 3 000 men were 
 sent South, from Louisville alone, during a few 
 weeks in April and May, 1804. Tho order and 
 its friends at that city have a permanent fund, 
 to which there are many subpcribers, for tiie 
 purpose of fitting out with pistols, clothing 
 
12 
 
 money, &c., men desiriag lo join the Southern 
 service; and, in tlie lodges of the order in St. 
 Louis and Northern Missouri, money has often 
 been raised to purchase horses, arms, and equip- 
 ments for soldiers about to b*! forwarded to 
 the Southern army. In the latter State, par- 
 ties empowered by Price, or by Grand Com- 
 mander Hunt as his representative, to recruit 
 for the rebel service, were nominally authorized 
 ■to "locate lands,'' as it was expressed, and in 
 their reports, which were formally made, the 
 aumber of acres, &c. , located represented the 
 aamber ef men recruited. At Louisville, those 
 'desiring to join the Southern forces were kept 
 Mdden, and supplied with food and lodging un- 
 tU. a convenient occasion was presented for their 
 transportation South. They were then collected, 
 and conducted at night to a safe rendezvous of 
 the order, whence they were forwarded to their 
 destination, in some cases, stealing horses 
 from the United States corrals on their way . 
 Whila awaiting an occasion to be sent South, 
 the men, to avoid the suspicion which 
 might be excited by their being seen to- 
 -gether in any considerable number, were often 
 employed on farms in the vicinity of Louis- 
 viile, and the farm of one Moore, in that neigh- 
 'faorhood (at whose house also meetings of the 
 order were held), is indicated in the testimony 
 as one of the localities where such recruits 
 were so rendezvoused and employed. 
 
 The same facilities which were afforded to 
 recruits for the Southern army were also 
 furnished by the order to persons desiring to 
 ;9roceed beyond our lines for any illegal pur- 
 pose. By these Lonisville was generally pre- 
 ferred as a point of departure, and, on the Mis- 
 sissippi river, a particular steamer, the.Graham, 
 was selected as the safest convenience. 
 
 6. Furnishing the Rebels with Arms, Ammuni- 
 jjujn, &c. — In this, too, ;the order, and espe- 
 cially its female members and allies, has been 
 sedulously engaged. The rebel women of Lou- 
 i-swlle and Kentucky are represented as having 
 rendered the most valuable aid to the Southern 
 army, by transporting very large quantities of 
 percussion caps, powder, &c., concealed upon 
 their persons, to some convenient locality near 
 the lines, whence they could be readily con- 
 veyed to those for whom they were intended, 
 Lt is estimated that at Louisville, up to May 1 
 last, the sum of $17,000 had been invested by 
 the order in ammunition and arms .to be for- 
 warded principally iu this manner to the rebels. 
 In St. Louis several firms, who are well known 
 to the Government, the principal of which is 
 Beauvais & Co., have been engaged in supply- 
 ing arms and ammunition to members of the 
 order, to be conveyed to their Southern allies. 
 Mary Ann Pitman, a reliable witness, and a 
 member of the O. A. K,, who will herealter be 
 specially alluded to, states in her testimony 
 that she visited Beauvais & Co. three times, and 
 procured from them on each occasion about 
 $89 worth of caps, besides a number of pistols 
 and cartridges, which she cawied in person to 
 Forrest's command, beside a much larger 
 quantity of similar articles which she caused to 
 be forwarded by other agents. The guerillas in 
 Missouri also received arms from St. Louis, 
 and one Douglas, one of the most active con- 
 spirators of the O. A. K. in Missom'i, and a 
 ■.special emissary of Price, was arrested while 
 
 in the act of transporting a box of forty re- 
 volvers by railroad to a gneriHa camp in the 
 interior of the State. Medical stores in large 
 quantities were also, by the aid of the order, 
 furnished to the enemy; and a surgeon in Leu- 
 isville is mentioned as having "made $75,0M 
 by smuggling medicines" through the lines of 
 our army. Supplies were in some cases con- 
 veyed to the enemy through the medium of 
 professed loyalists, who, having received per- 
 mits for that purpose from the United States 
 military authoritiea, would forward their goods, 
 as if for ordmary purposes of trade, to a cer- 
 tain point near the rebel lines, where, by the 
 connivance of the owners, the enemy would 
 be enabled to seize them. 
 
 7. Codperati7ig with the E^nemy in Raids and In- 
 vasions. — While it is clear tnat the order has 
 given aid, both directly and indirectly, to the 
 forces of the rebels, and to guerUla bands, when 
 engaged in making incujisions into the border 
 States, yet because, on the one hand, of the 
 constant restraint upon its action exercised by 
 our military authoritietj, and, on the other hand, 
 of the general success of our armies in the field 
 over those of the enemy, their allies at the North 
 have never thus far been able to carry out their 
 grand plan of a general armed rising of the 
 order, and its cooperation on an extended scale 
 with the Southern forces. This plan has been 
 two-fold, and consisted — first, of a rising of the 
 order in Missouri, aided by a strong detachment 
 fro 01 Illinois, and a cooperation with a rebei 
 army under Price ; second, of a similar rising in 
 Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, and a coopera- 
 tion with a force under Breckinridge, Buckaier, 
 Morgan, or some other rebel commander, who 
 was to invade the latter State. In this case the 
 order was first to cut the railroads andtelegra]»h 
 wires, in order that intelligence of the move- 
 ment might not be sent abroad and the trans- 
 portation of Federal troops might be delayed, 
 and then to seize upon the arsenals at Indi- 
 anapolis, Columbus, Springfield, Louisville, and 
 Frankfort, and, furnishing such of their nmn- 
 ber as were without arms, to kill or make 
 prisoners of department, district, and post 
 commanders, release the rebel prisoners at Rook 
 Island, and at Camps Morton, Douglas, and 
 Chase, and thereupon join the SoutViern army 
 at Louisville or some other point in Kentucky, 
 which State was to be permanently occupied by 
 the combined force. At the period of the move- 
 ment it was also proposed that an attack shoidd 
 be made upon Chicago by means of steam-tugs 
 mounted with cannon. A similar course was 
 to be taken in Missouri, and was to result in 
 the permanent occupation of the State. 
 
 This plan has long occupied the minds of 
 members of the order, and has been continually 
 discussed by them iu their lodges A rising 
 somewhat of the character described was in- 
 tended to have taken place in the spring of this 
 year, simultaneously with an expected advance 
 of the army of Lee upon Washington ; but the 
 plans of the enemy having been anticipated by 
 the move-ments of our own generals, the rising 
 of the conspirators was necessarily postponed. 
 Again, a general movement of the Southern 
 forces was anticipated to take place abotrt 
 July 4, and with this the order was to co- 
 operate. A speech to be made by Tallendig- 
 ham at the Chicago Convention was, it is 
 
13 
 
 said, to bo tke signal for tiie rising ; but 
 tbe postponement of the convention, as well 
 as the failure of the rebel armies t» engage in 
 tbe anticipated movement, again operated to 
 disturb the schemes of the order. IJoring the 
 summer, however, the grand plan of action 
 above set forth has been more than ever dis- 
 •tissed throughout the order, and its snccess 
 Host confidently predicted, while at the same 
 time an extensive organization and preparation 
 for carrying their conspiracy into effect have been 
 actively going on. But, up t* this time, not- 
 withstanding the late raids of the enemy in 
 Kentucky, and the invasion of Missouri by 
 Price, no s^ch general action on the part of the 
 order as was contemplated has taken place — a 
 result, in great part, owing to the activity of our 
 military authorities in strengtl\ening the detach- 
 ments at the prisons, arsenals, &c., and in 
 caasing the arrest of the leading conspirators 
 in the several States, and especially in the seiz 
 ure of Urge quantities of arms which had been 
 shipped for the nsoof the order in their intended 
 outbreak. It was, doubt loss, on account of these 
 precautions that the day last appointed for tLe 
 rising of the order in Indiana and Kentucky 
 (Aflgiiot 16) passed by with but slight disordei. 
 * It is, however, the inability of the public 
 enemy, in the now declining days of the rebel- 
 UoEo to initiate the desired movements which 
 has prevented the order from engaging in open 
 warfare; and it has lately been seriously con- 
 sidered in their councils, whether they shou'd 
 not proceed with their revolt, relying alone upon 
 the guerilla hands of Sypheri, Jesse, and otherE , 
 lor support and assistance. 
 
 With these guerillas the orderhas always most 
 readily acted along the border. The latter, xn 
 cases of the caoture by the Union forces of 
 Northern xiiembers of the order engaged in co- 
 operating with them, have frequently retaliated 
 by seizing prominent Union citizens, and holding 
 them as hostages for the release of their allies. 
 At other times our Government has been offi- 
 cially notitied by the rebel authorities that if 
 the members of the order captured were no: 
 treated by us as ordinary prisoners of war, re- 
 taliation would be resorted to. 
 
 An atrocious plan of concert between mem- 
 bers of the order in Indiane and certain gnerilla 
 bands of Kentucky, agreed upon last spring, 
 may be remarked upon in this connection, 
 dome 3,500 or 3^0Q0 guerillas were to be thrown 
 into the border counties, and were to assume 
 the character of refugees seeking employment. 
 Being armed, they were secretly to destroy Go- 
 vernment property wherever practicable, to con- 
 trol tbe elections by force, prevent enlistments, 
 aid deserters, and stir up strife between tbe 
 civil and military authorities. 
 
 A singular feature of tae raids of the enemy 
 remains only to be adverted to, viz : that the 
 ofiicers conducting these roids are furnished by 
 the rebel Govern uieat wiih quantities of United 
 States Treasury notes for iise within our lines, 
 and til at these are probably most frequently 
 procured through the atrency of memhere of 
 «t«oidei-. 
 
 Mary Ann Pitmaa, believed to be a true and 
 faithful witness, states that Forrest, of the 
 rebel army, at one time exhibited to her a letter 
 toMmself from a prominent rebel sympathizer 
 «nd member of the order in Washington. D. C, 
 
 in which it was set forth that the sum of $20,- 
 000 in "greenbacks" had actually been for- 
 warded by him lo the rebel Government at Rict- 
 mond. 
 
 8. Destruction of Government Frojycrty. — There 
 js no doubt that large quantities of Government 
 property have been burned or otherwise de- 
 stroyed by the agency of the order in differeBS. 
 localities, .'-t Louisville, in the case of the' 
 steamer Taylor, and on the Mississippi river, 
 steamers belonging to the United States have 
 been burned at the wharves, and generally whecj 
 loaded with Government stores. Shortly before 
 the arrest of Bowles, the senior of the majorr 
 generals of the order in Indiana, he had beer.' 
 engaged in the preparation of " Greek Fire,"' 
 which was to be found serviceable in tlie de- 
 struction of public property. It was generallj^ 
 understood in the councils of the order, in the 
 State of Kentucky, that they were to be eom - 
 pensated for such destruction by the rebel Go- 
 vernment, by receiving a commission of ter. 
 per cent, of the value of the property so de • 
 stroyed, and that this value was to be derived 
 from the estimate of the loss made in each cass 
 by Northern newspapers. 
 
 9. Destruction of Private Property and Fene- 
 :-ution of Union Men, — It is reported by General 
 Carrington that the full development of the 
 order in Indiana was followed by " a state of 
 terrorism " among the Union residents of ""por- 
 tions of Brown, Morgan, Johnson, Rush, Clay, 
 Sullivan, Bartholomew, Hendricks, and other 
 counties " in that State ; that from some locali- 
 ties they v/ere driven away altogether ; that in 
 otners their barns, hay, and wheat- ricks, were 
 burned ; and that many persons under the gene- 
 ral insecurity of life and property sold their 
 effects at a sacrifice and removed to other places. 
 At one time in Brown county, the members 
 of the order openly threatened the lives et 
 all '• Abolitionists" who refused to sigH a 
 peace memorial which they had prepared and 
 addressed to Congress. In Missouri, also, simi- 
 lar outrages committed upon the property of 
 loyal citizens are attributable in a great degree 
 to the secret order. 
 
 In this connection the outbreak of the miners 
 in the coal districts of eastern Pennsylvania, 
 in the autumn of last year, may be appropri- 
 ately referred to. It was fully shown in the 
 testimony adduced, upon the trials of these in- 
 surgents, who were guilty of the destruction of 
 property and numerous acts of violence, as well 
 as murder, that they were generally members of 
 a secret treasonable association, similar in all 
 respects to the K. G. C, at the meetings of 
 which they had been incited to the commisBion 
 of the crimes for which they were tried tncJ 
 convicted. 
 
 10. Assassination and Murder. — After what 
 has been disclosed in regard to this infamous 
 league of traitors and ruffians, it will not be a 
 matter of surprise to learn that the cold-blooded 
 assassination of Union citizens and fiddlers jtas 
 been included in their devilish scheme of ope- 
 rations. Green B. Smith states in his confes- 
 sion that "Tbe secret assassination of United 
 States officers, soldiers, and (Jovemment em- 
 ployes hu3 been discussed in the councils of 
 the order and recommended." It is also 
 shown in the course of the testimony that at a 
 large meeting of the order in St. Louis, in May 
 
14 
 
 or June last, itwas peoposed to form a secret 
 police of members of the order for the purpose 
 
 of patrolling the streets of that city at night 
 sad killing every detective and soldier ttiat 
 ceuld be readily disposed of; that thie proposi- 
 tion was coolly considered, and finally rejected, 
 aot because of its fiendish character — no voice 
 betog raised against its criminality — but because 
 only it was deemed premature. At Louisville, 
 in June last, a similar scheme was discussed 
 among the order forthe waylaying and butcher- 
 iag of negro soldiers in the streets at night; 
 and in the same month a party of its members 
 ia that city was actually organized for the pnr- 
 )o«6e of throwing off the tf'ack cf the Nashville 
 railroad a train of colored troops and seizing 
 Cfae opportunity to take the lives of as many as 
 possible. Again, in July^ the assassination of 
 an obnoxious provost marshal, by betraying 
 ■ bim into the hands of guerillas, was designed 
 by members in the interior of Kentucky. Far 
 Aher, at a meeting of the Grand CouacU of In 
 'iSiana at Indianapolis on June 14th last, the 
 murder of ©ne CofB.H, a Goveru'Tnent detective, 
 Avbo, as it was supposed, had betrayed the 
 •OTder, was deliberately difcussed and fully 
 •determined upon. This fact is stated by Stidger 
 '.in his report to General Carringtoii o iJunelTth 
 last, and is more fully set forth in his testimony 
 mpon the trial of Dodd. He deposes that a 
 the meeting in question, Dodd himself volun- 
 'fieered to go to namifton, Ohio, where Coffin 
 was espected to ha fotrnd, and there "dispose 
 j>f the latter, '' He adds that prior to the meet 
 ing, he himself conveyed from Judgs Bnllltt, n 
 Jlaouisville, to Bowles and Dodd, at Indianapolis 
 special instructions to have Coffin "put out o 
 the way" — "murdered" — "at all hazards." 
 
 The opinion is expressed by Colonel Sander- 
 flon, under date of June 12 last, that "there- 
 cent numerous cold-blooded assassinations of 
 oiilitary officers and unconditional Union men 
 throughout the military district of North Mis- 
 souri, especially along the western border," is 
 -to be ascribed to the agency of the order. The 
 witness, Pitman, represents that it is "a part of 
 :the obligation or understanding of the order" to 
 Mil officers and eoldiers "ts.^sn5»«r ii can.be don^ 
 >hy stealthy "as well as loyal eitizeno when con- 
 •^^sidered importEut or infiaential persons; and 
 she adds, that while at Memphis, during the 
 past summer, she knew that men on picket we^-e 
 'cesretly billed by members of the order ap- 
 proaching them in disguise. 
 
 la this connection may be recalled the whole- 
 •.^Tsaile assassination of Union soldier.^ by mem- 
 bere of the order and their confederates at 
 ' iSharleston, Illinois, in March last, in regard to 
 ■wbich, as a startling episode of the rebellion, e 
 .^fall report was addressed from this offiee to the 
 President, under date of Jwly 26 lasU This 
 'Concerted murderous assault upon a scattered 
 body of men, mostly unarmed — apparently de- 
 fjigned for the mere purpose of destroying as 
 many lives of Union soldiers as possible — is a 
 forcifaks illustration of the utter malignity and 
 depravity which characterise the members of 
 this order in their zea Ito coaimend themselves' 
 as faithful allies to their fellow-conspirators at 
 ^t£ie South- 
 
 M. Mtablishment of a MorUv'Mstarn Gonftede-^ 
 rawy.— in concluding this review of some of the 
 fiorincipa specific purposes of the order, it re- 
 
 mains only to remark upon a further design of 
 many of its leading members, the accomplieb- 
 ment of which they are represented as ha^nng 
 deeply at heart. Hating New England, and 
 jealous of her influence and resources, and. 
 claiming that the interests of the West und! 
 South, naturally connected as they are through 
 the Mississippi valley, ere identical, and actu- 
 ated farther by an intensely revolution^p 
 spirit as well as an unbridled and unprincipled 
 ambition, these men have made the establL*- 
 ment of a Western or Northwestern Confede- 
 racy, in alliance with the South, the grand aim 
 and end of all their plotting and conspiring. It 
 is with this steadily in prospect that they are 
 constantly seeking to produce discontent, dis- 
 organization, and civil disorder at the North, 
 With this view, they gloat over every reverse 
 of the armies of the Union, and desire that fee 
 rebellion shall be protracted until the resotrrces 
 of the Government shall be exhausted, its 
 strength paralyzed, its currency hopelessly de- 
 preciated, and confidence everywhere destroyed. 
 TheUj from the anarchy which, under their 
 scheme, is to ensue, the new Confederacy is to 
 arise, which is either to unite itself with that «rf 
 the South, or to form therewith a close and per- 
 manent alliance. Futile and extravagant as 
 this scJieme may appear, it is yet the settled pra?- 
 iwse of many leading spirits of the secret con- 
 spiracy, and is Iheir favorite subject of thought 
 and discussion. Not only is this scheme de- 
 liberated Hpon in the lodge's of the order, but it » 
 openly proclaimed. Members of the Indiana 
 Legislature, even, have publiciy announced itj 
 and avowed that they will take their own State 
 out of the Union, and recognize th<3 indepen- 
 dence of the South. A citizen, captured by a 
 guerilla band in Kentucky, last summer, rscorde 
 the fact that the establishment of a new con- 
 federacy as the deliberate purpose of the Western, 
 people was boastfully arserted by these OTJt- 
 laws, who also assured their prisoner that la 
 the event of such estsblishment there would be 
 "a greater rebellion than ever?" 
 
 Lastly, it is claimed that the new confede- 
 racy is already organized; that it has a "prp- 
 visionaJ. government," officers, depart men tisj. 
 bureaus, &c., in secret operation. No comment 
 is nec^essary to be made upon this treason, not 
 now contemplated for the first time in our his- 
 tory. Suggested by the present rebellion, it is 
 the logical consequence of the ardent and ofcta- 
 sympathy therewith which is the life an* in- 
 spiration of the secret order. 
 
 Vira. TEE Vi'ITNESSES, AMD THEIB TBSTJMOlTr, 
 
 The facts detailed in the present report haw 
 been derived from a great variety ©f dissimilsr 
 sources, but all the witnesses, however differeat 
 their situations, concur so pointedly in then 
 testimony, that the evidence which ha.< been 
 furnished of the facts must be regarded a»«< 
 the most reliable character. 
 
 The principal witnesses maybe classified ss 
 
 1. Shrewd, intelligent men, eaiployed asde- 
 teetives, and with a peculiar talent tor tbeir cutt- 
 ing, who have gradually gained the confldenc* 
 »f leading members of the order, and in somei 
 cases have been admit.ted to its templeft 
 and been initiated into one or more of 
 the degrees.— The most remarkable of tbese 
 
15 
 
 18 atidger, formerly u private eoMier in our 
 altos'^ who, by the ase of an tmcommon ad 
 (lrc68, though at great personal risk, eacceedetl 
 in oetablishing eaoh intimate relations with 
 Bowbes, Bullitt, Dodd, and other leadera of the 
 order in Indiana and Kentucky, as to be ap- 
 pointed graud secretary for the latter State, a 
 poBitiou the most favorable for obtaiDing infor- 
 mation of the plans of these traitors and warn- 
 ing the Go^'orDUient of their intentions. It is 
 Co the rare fidelity cf this man, who has al£0 
 been the principal witness upon the trial of 
 Dodd» that the Government has been chiefly 
 indebted for the exfwsnre of the designs of the 
 conspirators in the two States name<]. 
 
 3. Rebel ollicers and soldiers voluntarily or 
 ijnvolantarily making disclosures to our mili- 
 tary authorities. — The most valuable witnesses 
 9f this class are prisoners of war, who, actu- 
 ated by laudable motives, have of their own 
 accord furnished a large amount of informa- 
 tioa in regard to the order, especially as it 
 exists in the: South, and of the relations of its 
 members wKh those of the Noithera section. 
 Among these, also, are soldiers at our prisoE 
 camps, who, without designing it, have made 
 known to our officials, by the use of the signs, 
 <i;e., of the order, that they were members. 
 
 3. Scouts employed to travel through the in- 
 terior of the border States, and bIso within or 
 in the neighborhood of the enemy's lines. — The 
 fact that some of these were left entirely igno- 
 rant of the existence of the order, upon being 
 BO employed, attaches aa iDcreased value to 
 their Cisco venes in regard to its operations. 
 
 4. Citizen prisoners, to whom, while in con- 
 finement, disclosures were made relative to the 
 <;xistence, extent, and character of the order by 
 fellow- prisoners who were leading members. 
 and who, in some instances, upon becoming; 
 intimate with the witness, initiated him into 
 one of the degrees. 
 
 5. Members of the order, who, upon a full 
 acquaintance with its principles, have been 
 appalled by its iafamous designs, and have 
 voluntarily abandoned ii, freely making known 
 their experience to our military authorities. In 
 this cliss maybe placed the female witness, 
 Mary Ann Pitman, who, though in arrest at 
 the period of her disclosures, wai yet indacea 
 to make them for the reason that, as she says, 
 " at the last meeUng which I attended they 
 passed an order which I consider as utterly 
 atrocious and barbarous ; so I told them ] 
 would have no'-hing more to do with them." 
 This wcmau was attached to the command of 
 the rebel Forrest, as an officer tinder thename of 
 '' Lieutenant Rdwiey;" but, beeanse Ler sex 
 afforded tec unusual facilities for crossing oar 
 lines, she was often employed ia the execution 
 of important commissions within our territory, 
 and, ts a member of the order, was made exten- 
 eivtly ecquainted with other members, both of 
 the Norihern and Southern sections. Her testi- 
 mony is thus peculiarly valaable, and, being f. 
 person of unusual intelligence and force of 
 character, her statements are eucciact, pointed, 
 end emphatic. They are also especially useful 
 aa fully corroborating those of other witnesses 
 regarded as moat trustworthy. 
 
 6. Officers of the order of kigh rank, who have 
 been prompted' to present confessioBs, more or 
 les8 detailed, In regard to the order and their 
 
 connection with it. — The principals of theee 
 are Hunt, Dunn, and Smith, grand commander, 
 deputy grand commander, and grand secre- 
 tary of the order in Missouri, to whoso state- 
 ments frequent reference has bsen made» 
 These confessions, though in some degree 
 guarded and disingenuous, have fornished 
 to the Government much valuable informa- 
 tion in regard to the secret operations of the 
 order, especially in Missouri, the affiliation of 
 its leaders with Price, &c. It is to be noted, 
 that Dunn makes the statement in commoa 
 with other witnesses that, in emeringthe order, 
 he WIS quite ignorant of its true purposes. Bfe 
 Bays?"! did not become a member uudarstand-- 
 Lngly; the initiatory step was taken in the 
 dark, without reflection and without know- 
 ledge." 
 
 7. Deserters from our army, who, upon being 
 apprehended, confessed that they had been ii>- 
 duced and assisted to desert by members of tbe 
 order. It was, indeed, principally from these 
 confessions that the existence of the tecret trea- 
 sonable organization of the K. G. C. was first 
 discovered in Indiana, in the year 1802, 
 
 8. Writers of anonymous communications, 
 addressed to heads of departments or Jprovoet 
 marshals, disclosing lacts corroborative of 
 other more imporcaui statements. 
 
 9. The wi:nesses before Ihe grand jury at io- 
 dianapolis, in 1833, wly^ the order was fot- 
 mally presented as a treasonable organization, 
 and those whose testimony has been introduced 
 upon the recent trial of Dodd. 
 
 It need only be added that a most satisfactory 
 test of the credibility and weight o'c much of the 
 evidence which hss been furnished is afltorded 
 by the printed testimony in regard to :be cba- 
 raeter end intention of the order, which is 
 found in its national and Slate constitutions 
 and its ritual. Indeed, the statements cf the 
 various witnesses are but presentations of the 
 logical and inevitable consequences fland re- 
 sults of the principles therein set forth. 
 
 In concluding this review, it remains only to 
 state that a constant reference hss been made to 
 the elaborate official reports, in regard to the 
 order, of Brigadier General Carrington, com 
 manding District of Indiana, and of Colonel 
 Sanderson, Provost Marshal General of the De- 
 partment of Missouri. The great mass of the 
 testimony upon the subject of the se.-ret con- 
 spiracy has been furnished by these officers; jthe 
 latter acting under tbe orders of Major General 
 RoS'Jcrans, and the former cooperatinar, undet' 
 the instructions of tbe Secretary of War, v>ith. 
 Major General Burbridge, commanding District 
 of Kentucky, as well as with Governor MortODj 
 of Indiana, who, thou!j;h at one time greatly 
 embarrassed, by a Legislature strongly tainted 
 with disloyalty, in his efTons to repress the do- 
 mestic enemy, has at list seen his State relieved 
 from the danger of a civil war. 
 
 But, although the '.reason of the order has been 
 theroughly exposed, and although its capacity 
 for fatal mischief has, Dy m^ans of the arrest of 
 its leaders, me Feiznie of its arms, and the other 
 vigorous means which have been pursued, been, 
 seriously impaired, it is still busied with ita 
 secret plotiings against the Government, and 
 with its perddions designs in aid of ths Southern 
 rebellion. It is reported to have recently issuei. 
 new signs and passwords, and its members 
 
16 
 
 aesert tbat fotil meanB will be need to prevect 
 Sue sticcesB of the Administration at the coming 
 election, and threaten an extended revolt in the 
 event of the reelection of President Lincoln. 
 
 In the presence of the rebellion and of this se- 
 cret order — -which is but its echo and faithful ally 
 — we cannot but be amazed at the ntter and wide- 
 spread profligacy, personal and political, which 
 tiese movements against the Govemmeat dis- 
 elose. The guilty men engaged in them, after 
 oaBting aside their allegiance, seem to have 
 trodden •ander foot every sentiment of honor 
 and every restraint of law, human and divine. 
 Jndea produced but one Judas Iscariot, and 
 ■Rome, from the sints of her demoralizjtioTi, 
 produced but one Cataline, and yet, as events 
 prove, there has arisen together in our land an 
 entire brood of such traitors, all animated by 
 the same parricidal spirit, and all struggling 
 with the same relentless maligaity for the 
 dismerDberment of oor Unioit. Oi this 
 extraordinary phenomenon — not paralleled, it 
 is believed, in the world's history — there can 
 be but one explanation, and all these blackened 
 and fetid streams of crime may well be traced 
 to the same common fountain. So fiercely 
 intolerant and imperious was the temper en- 
 j^endered by slavery, that when the Southern 
 people, after having controlled the national 
 CGUucils for half a. century, were beaten at an 
 alecticn, their leadeiig turned upon the Govern- 
 
 ment with the insolent fury with which they 
 would have drawn their revolvers on a rebel- 
 lious slave in one of their negro qu?trteTe; and 
 they have continued since to prose cut« their 
 warfare, amid all the barbarisms and atroci- 
 ties naturally and necessarily ic spired by the 
 infernal institution in whose interests they are 
 sacrificing alike themselves and their country. 
 Many of these conspirators, as is well known, 
 were fed, clothed, and educated at.the espenee 
 of the nation, and were loaded with its honors 
 at the very moment they struck at its life with 
 the horrible criminality of a son stabbing tihe 
 bosom of his own mother while impressing 
 kisses on his cheeks. The leaders of the tsai- 
 tors in the loyal States, who so completely fra- 
 ternize with these conspirators, an.d whose ma- 
 chinations are now unmasked, it is as clearly 
 the duty of the Administration to proseente 
 and punish, as it is its duty to subjagate the 
 rebels who are openly in arms against the 
 Government. In the performance of this diri,y, 
 it is entitled to expect, and will doubtless re- 
 ceive, the zealous cooperation of true men 
 everywhere, who, ia crushing the truculeDt 
 foe ambushed in the haunts of this secret or- 
 der, should rival in courage and faithfnlnesfl 
 the armies which are so nobly eustaiuiBg ow 
 flag on the battle-fields of the South, 
 tiespectfully submitted. 
 
 J. Holt, Judge Advocate Genera!. 
 
 T7HI0W EXE€ITTI¥E CONGEESSIOWAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 Hon. E. D. Morgan, of New York. 
 " JaS; Harlan, of Iowa. 
 " Ii. M. Morrill, of Maine. 
 Senate. 
 
 Hon. E. B. WashbiiTne; of Illinois. 
 ■' . E. B.Van Valkenburg, N.Yor' 
 
 J. A. Garfield; of Ohio. 
 " J. G. Blaine, of Maine. 
 of .Representative. : ~ 
 
 E . D. Morgan, Chairman, Jas. Harlan, Treasurer. D. N. Cooley, Seorefcai