a power so amply provided with the material of war as the government at
Washington. Then it was that the project of enlarging the area of the
rebellion, first fell upon the Southern mind as indispensable to their
cause, now fast becoming desperate in the extreme. Hurried raids into
border northern states gave to the prowess of southern arms but momentary
_eclat_, and little or no enduring strength was added to the stability of
the Richmond government, beyond the plunder obtained in the line of march.
On the contrary, these raids, instead of being evidence of the power of
the South to maintain the standard of independence, were looked upon by
the military chieftains of the North, without apprehension further than
the demoralization, consequent upon the particular neighborhoods and
districts thus invaded. In fact each recurring raid gave additional
grounds for the confident belief on the part of the North, that the
downfall of the rebellion was but a question of time, much sooner to be
solved than many people of both sections supposed. These symptoms of the
distress of the cause meantime did not escape the sagacity of the leaders
of the rebellion, and as an expedient remedy, the plan of secretly
organizing traitors in the northern states was determined upon as early as
1862, by the political representatives and agents of the confederate
states, the attempt, character and success of which project will be the
subject of the next chapter.




CHAP. III.


ARENA OF THE REBELLION EXTENDED--SECRET ORGANIZATION--PLAN OF
FORMATION--KNIGHTS OF GOLDEN CIRCLE--TRANSPORTS ON THE RIVERS