Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/161

 from disloyal secret organizations in efforts to organize the State militia. He writes:

“In several lodges of the ‘Sons of Liberty,’ a treasonable organization which now exists in nearly every county in the State, it was determined by them to unite in organizing military companies under the militia law and use these to cover their movements from public observation. While pretending to drill as a militia company, they could practice the peculiar tactics of their order without being compelled as now to seek concealment. Most of the lodges in the southern part of the State are in constant correspondence with their coadjutors in Missouri, and since and since the first of July last their communications have been characterized by the most unblushing treason, both to the Federal and State Governments. Couriers are now running regularly on both sides of the State line, and much of the extraordinary tide of immigration now pouring in from Missouri is invited here by Iowa conspirators under promise of fellowship and protection.

“When you reflect that on the first day of August there were over 30,000 members of this secret order enrolled in this State, bound together by oaths which, if obeyed, renders every one of them an active traitor to the Union, and an abetter of civil strife in our State; that large quantities of arms and ammunition are being secretly brought into these counties to be used for disloyal purposes, you may well conceive that the development of their nefarious militia scheme, concocted in midnight conclaves, became with me a matter of serious concern. The sad experience of our Missouri neighbors in their late troubles with disloyal militia, was a sufficient warning for me to carefully guard that point in Iowa. I am informed by anonymous letters that my orders will be disregarded and my authority set at defiance. These orders will remain unchanged and be strictly enforced in every case. Companies which disregard them will not be recognized or treated for any purpose as portions of the State militia. If the conflicts which they seem now desirous of inviting be forced upon us, they may find us prepared at points where they least expect us, and on our part at least there will be no blank cartridges used or shots thrown away.”

In one case on the Missouri border, a militia company elected as its captain a man who had been dishonorably dismissed from the United States service for the utterance of treasonable sentiments. In another case the captain had been a notorious Missouri guerrilla. In both of these instances the request for commissions and arms were refused by the Governor and Adjutant-General. Through the vigilance of these officers the secret