access to the camp, and such prohibition was scarcely expected, as of
course the plans of the conspirators must be a dead secret from the
commander of the post. In the temples of the Sons of Liberty it was a
matter of congratulation that it was impossible for a detective to obtain
their secrets, yet all this time Col. B.J. Sweet was well acquainted with
every move that had the least importance, for the writer made it an
invariable custom to send dispatches regularly to Col. Sweet, who thus
came into full possession of the plans and designs of the Order, as soon
as they were announced, and hence was at all times in a position that he
could not have been surprised by any assault upon the Camp. The Colonel is
at all times perfectly cool and self-possessed, prudent in the highest
degree, and inflexible in purpose, when once resolved upon a line of
action. His arrangements were made with all celerity and completeness, and
though his little force was quite too small to offer great resistance in
case of surprise had not the facts been known to the commandant, yet the
interior arrangement of the camp, the disposition of his forces, and above
all, the perfect discipline which had ever been maintained by him, now
offered a silent barrier which caused the conspirators to entertain
direful apprehensions, as to the disaster to themselves when they should
make the undertaking, for the movements of the camp were noticed from the
observatories near by, and on one occasion Brig. Gen. Walsh, accompanied
by an attache of the Chicago _Times_, made a personal visit to the camp,
and being received as gentlemen by the gallant Colonel, they were able to
make certain discoveries of a disagreeable nature. The greatest
precaution, of course, was observed in the transmission of dispatches by
the writer to Col. Sweet, for had it been supposed for a moment, that the
commander of the post was cognizant of their acts, it would most certainly
have precipitated the uprising, as the leaders of the conspiracy could not
hope for so favorable a time again. The camp was enclosed by only one
thickness of inch boards, not over twelve feet high, and a little force of