Lorenz Brentano, the civil leader in the Baden uprisings, was also one of those who found a refuge in the United States, as Hecker and Carl Schurz likewise did. Brentano first engaged in farming in Michigan, afterwards became a lawyer in Chicago, and later was editor of the Staats Zeitung. He also served as a member of the state legislature of Illinois, a member of Congress, and United States consul at Dresden, Germany.

SOUTHERN SYMPATHIZERS IN CHICAGO

Throughout the War of the Rebellion there was always an element of the population in the Northern states who were strongly in sympathy with the Southern cause. This was often as much for the reason that these sympathizers were opposed to the anti-slavery men, who they regarded as abolitionists, as for any positive sentiment in favor of the slave holders and their rebellion. In the general exchange of epithets that always takes place in a time of great political excitement, these Southern sympathizers were called "Copperheads," which became a term of reproach, and was a fair offset to the epithet "Black Abolitionists" often applied \ to the supporters of the Union.

During the first year of the war, Wilbur F. Storey came to Chicago, and assumed charge of the Chicago Times, a paper which had been published for several years under a Democratic management. From that time no newspaper in Chicago, or even the West, passed through a career so spectacular, sensational, and stormy as did the Chicago Times under Wilbur F. Storey. Storey was a man of great force, but with little principle. He espoused the cause of the South, probably more because of his disposition to oppose the rising tide of Unionism throughout the North than from any sympathies he may have felt. He became the apostle of Copperheadism in the city. Storey at that time was a man forty-two years old, and had previously conducted a newspaper in Detroit; on his arrival in Chicago, he at once took strong grounds against everything and everybody engaged in the struggle to save the Union. The Times soon earned the designation of "Copperhead sheet," and there was an intense hostility aroused against it and its owner. It was a time of terrible passion, and the conduct of his paper became so outrageous that the military authorities at Washington took notice of it. General Burnside, in command of the department of the Northwest, issued an order in June, 1863, "for the suppression of the Times, and the commander at Camp Douglas was charged with the execution of the order." The Times establishment was taken possession of by the military forces, and its future publication was forbidden. This action, however, was thought to have been too extreme and in contravention of the principle of "free speech and a free press." A meeting of prominent Republicans and business men in Chicago was held who agreed that the action of General Burnside was untimely and should be revoked. This meeting was composed of such men as Wm. B. Ogden, Van H. Higgins, Corydon Beckwith, Judge H. T. Dickey, Samuel W. Fuller, Wirt Dexter, James F. Joy, Senator Lyman Trumbull, and Isaac N. Arnold. "A petition to the President to revoke the order was signed by all present, and Trumbull and Arnold telegraphed personally to the same effect. Judge David Davis was also active in procuring the revocation. The order was revoked by the President." On the fifth publication of the paper was resumed.2 2 Andreas II, 495.

Strange to say these events proved of great financial benefit to the Times. Its circulation and advertising patronage were larger than ever before, although in later years Mr. Storey felt that his course during the war had been a mistake, as is evidenced by the remark he once made; "After this the Times will support all wars the country may undertake."

The "Copperhead" Times and its editor, "Old Storey," as he was called, were greatly hated, and personally he was many times in danger. "His office was manned by a voluntary fire department, and was equipped with guns, grenades, and ammunition. It was also supplied with pipes containing steam which might have been turned into any crowd attacking the doors." Among the newspaper men of the time there is not one with whom Storey may be compared. He was a type in himself, a class by himself, having no sympathies with the gentler side of humanity. He lived a life of tempestuous triumph in Chicago journalism, and reached the very pinnacle of unenviable notoriety. Storey accumulated a fortune by methods that even a low order of commercial standards would not justify. He failed afterwards "to stamp the impress of nobility and character upon his world, and his fortune faded as his brilliant intellect tottered and fell." 3 Storey died in 1884, after several years of waning mentality, apparently without a friend in the world.

THE UNION LEAGUE OF AMERICA

In a

To oppose the malign activities of the disloyal societies formed from time to time throughout the Northern states, there was organized, in 1862, the "Union League of America." Numerous councils were formed in the Northwest, by means of organizers employed for that purpose. small printed manual for the use of these agents or organizers is stated the object of the League, which was as follows: "The object of this League shall be to preserve Liberty and the union of these United States; to maintain the Constitution thereof, and the supremacy of the laws; to put down the enemies of the Government and thwart the designs of traitors and disloyalists; and to protect and strengthen all loyal men, without regard to sect, condition or party.”

In the ritual prepared for the use of the councils the presiding officer addresses the candidate for membership to some length. This striking sentence is quoted from the ritual; "It is a strange and sad necessity which impels American citizens to organize themselves in this manner to sustain the Constitution and the Union; but the Government under which we live is threatened with destruction."

Mr. Eli R. Lewis, well known in Grand Army circles, possesses copies of the manual and ritual, and when the Union League of America began its work he was one of the organizers, Mr. Joseph Medill being the president of the order. Mr. Lewis says that "no one knew the number of those who were members of the order except Mr. Medill."

The order exercised no marked influence, however, the principles for which it was organized becoming merged into the general tide of Union sentiment, which of course was overwhelmingly predominant.

3 Chicago Newspapers, in Illinois Blue Book for 1907, p. 572.

MR. COOK'S VOLUME

In a volume recently published, entitled "Bygone Days," written by Mr. Frederick Francis Cook, the author gives many graphic descriptions of the stirring times of the Civil War in Chicago. Mr. George P. Upton, himself a veteran journalist and author, in an introductory note to the volume, says of the author: "It is my pleasure to have known Mr. Cook during the period he recalls in this volume. It is an advantage, in judging of its merits, that I was a fellow worker in journalism during the same period, and that we saw and heard and did much together. Mr. Cook, in those days, half a century ago, was an alert, keen, observant, well equipped reporter. In preparing this transcript of Chicago's past, therefore, Mr. Cook has been not only well equipped for his task, but he could truthfully say, in marshalling events, 'Magna pars fui.' As I have already intimated, half a century ago Mr. Cook and I were reporters together, bent upon the same assignments or enthusiastically competing for 'scoops.' His book recalls to me the stirring events of the 'sixties' forcibly, accurately, and interestingly. It will furnish valuable material for any future history of Chicago, and to this extent it is a distinctly important public service."

A literary enterprise engaged in by Cook while on the staff of the Chicago Times shortly after the Great Fire was a series of articles of great historical interest. In his introduction to the volume previously referred to he says: "It is a gratifying reflection that, shortly after the fire, I felt moved to go about among the older settlers to revive and preserve their impressions of the early days; and these reminiscences, to something like four score issues, were published in the Times of Wilbur F. Storey (with which paper the writer was then connected) under the uniform heading of 'Bygone Days.' The series included the recollections of Gurdon S. Hubbard, then far and away the oldest inhabitant-his advent dating back to 1818-when, outside of the stockade known as Fort Dearborn, the only white family's habitation was John Kinzie's. These reminiscences were prepared with care; and as much then recorded was still matter of firsthand knowledge, and hence subject to contemporary correction, the series may be accepted as embodying fairly trustworthy data. Later a file of these published memoranda, together with a rare volume or two about early Chicago, was deposited with the Chicago Historical Society, where the historian of the future may find it worth his while to consult them."

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHICAGO IN WAR TIME

CAMP DOUGLAS ESTABLISHED BY GOVERNOR YATES-FIRST USED FOR INSTRUCTION OF RECRUITS BECOMES A MILITARY PRISON IN 1862-CAMP FRY ESTABLISHED-THE PRISONERS OF WAR AT CAMP DOUGLAS-DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE CAMP-UNION PAROLED PRISONERS AT THE CAMP-NUMBER OF CONFEDERATE PRISONERS AT THE CAMP-EXPERIENCES OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER-OCCUPATION OF THE PRISONERS-ATTEMPTS AT ESCAPE IN 1862-CONDUCT AND APPEARANCE OF THE PRISONERS— CONSPIRACY AMONG THE PRISONERS IN 1864-OTHER ATTEMPTS то ESCAPETHE MILITARY COMMISSION-LAST YEAR OF THE PRISON CAMP-MONUMENT OAKWOODS CEMETERY-FREDERICK F. COOK'S ACCOUNT.

AT

CAMP DOUGLAS IN THE CIVIL WAR

IN THE month of September, during the first year of the war, Governor Yates established a camp in Chicago named for the great senator who had passed away in the previous July, for whose loss the country was still mourning. Its location was on Cottage Grove avenue, between Thirty-first and Thirty-fourth streets, extending west to what is now Forest avenue. It comprised an area of about sixty acres, and was at that time just beyond the southern city limits. The camp was used at first for instruction purposes, for assembling troops, the formation and mustering in of regiments, and their drill and equipment for the field.

In the following year it was used as a place of confinement for the military prisoners who began to arrive in great numbers from the South, after the Fort Donelson campaign. Almost the entire number captured by General Grant in that campaign were sent to Camp Douglas and suitable quarters built for them. There were at this time some nine or ten thousand prisoners within the limits of this camp, guarded by two regiments of three months' men enlisted for that service; the Sixty-seventh and Sixty-ninth Regiments of Illinois Volunteers. These regiments were composed mostly of young men anxious to get a taste of a soldier's life and still not abandon their regular employments or studies. They found, however, that the duties were sufficiently arduous, though not so dangerous, as service at the front. Many of them, indeed, found the life so attractive that they reenlisted in the three year service upon the expiration of their term of enlistment.

The formation of the new regiments went on without regard to these duties, and the armies operating in the South were rapidly supplied with the regiments fitted out at this point. The streets of Chicago were often alive with marching troops on their way to the Illinois Central Railroad depot, where they took the trains to the South. The cars on the Illinois Central used for the transportation of soldiers