The Wide Awakes

C-Span recently featured John Grinspan speaking about the Wide Awakes, a topic covered on the Abbeville Blog and in Chapter Seven of my book, Union At All Costs: From Confederation to Consolidation.

As early as 1856, numerous paramilitary clubs were organized in support of the Republican Party. Examples included the Rocky Mountain Clubs, Freedom Clubs, and the notorious Wide Awakes. This organization differed from the previous group of New Yorkers who wore the Wide Awake moniker. The originals were an offshoot of the Know Nothing Party (or The American Party), which existed in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

As the 1860 election approached, Northern militaristic organizations became more structured. Most members were young White Protestant males in their teens, twenties, or thirties who were motivated by the sectional friction in the 1850's. The Wide Awakes were organized in Hartford, Connecticut, in March 1860. A catalyst for their organization was the political "response to Connecticut's spring election between Republican Governor William A. Buckingham and his challenger, Democrat Thomas Seymour." They strongly supported Buckingham, a longtime Norwich, Connecticut, politician, and mercantilist who helped start the Hayward Rubber Company. Seymour was a lawyer, politician, and Democrat who had served in the Mexican War.

Numerous Wide Awake clubs sprang up throughout the North and Midwest with some even reaching Baltimore and St. Louis. They were militarily structured with defined ranks, duties, and specific attire. A common form of dress consisted of capes or robes and black glazed hats. They often carried bright torches approximately six feet in length. Many also carried an insignia that featured crossed flags-the U.S. Flag and the Tricolor Flag of Revolutionary France. The center of the flags featured the all-seeing "Eye of Providence" such as the image on the one-dollar bill and often traced back to the Egyptian "Eye of Horus."

The agenda of the Chicago Chapter is indicative of their overall program: (1) They acted as political police. (2) Escorted prominent Republican speakers. (3) Attended public meetings to keep order and quell any disturbances. (4) Attended the polls to see that legal voters were justly treated. (5) Conducted themselves in a manner to induce other Republicans to join. (6) Combined in large numbers to support the Republican Ticket. Regardless of their location, they uncompromisingly supported the Republican Party. Membership estimates range as high as 400,000; 100,000 is thought to be more realistic.

Wherever the often fanatical Wide Awakes went, violence typically followed. Bloodshed was common on the East Coast, and bricks, rocks, and torches were often the weapons in play. "In many cases rowdies ambushed Wide Awake parades, hurling bricks and screaming, 'Kill the damn Wide Awakes.'" There was violence in Manhattan involving an attack on a fire company. "The New York Wide Awakes, when asked about their frequent brawls, complained that their torches were made of soft pine and splintered after just a few blows to the head." Conflicts were also commonplace in the Midwest. For example, one incident involved an Ohio clash with a group of Democrats. "The Democratic candidate for coroner in an Indiana town shot a club member in the shoulder, and an Illinois Wide Awake stabbed the 'ring leader of a mob' seven times during a late night brawl." Another incident, known as the Stone's Prairie Riot, occurred in Payson, Illinois, when the Wide Awakes clashed with Stephen Douglas supporters.

The Wide Awakes' intent was to create unrest and disrupt the structure of the South. They were denounced by Southern secessionists William Lowndes Yancey and Henry A. Wise. Texas Senator Louis Wigfall accused William Seward of being an instigator of their activities. Whether or not Seward was guilty of this charge, he showed support for them as evidenced in a speech delivered in La Crosse, Wisconsin:

He expressed his gratification at the strength of this Wide-Awake Organization, and said it was possible their services might not cease with the election. They had heard for two months of the last session of Congress an incessant boasting as to what the South would do in case of a Republican triumph in the Presidential election. That contingency was now a certainty; and though he did not apprehend there would be any effort made to carry out these threats, yet if any effort should be made, this Wide-Awake organization would be found mighty convenient in stifling and crushing out any attempt to overthrow the Government.

Illinois Congressman Owen Lovejoy strove to heighten Southern fear by encouraging the Wide Awakes to invade Virginia and capture Wise. An example of the historically violent "Lincolnian" left, the Wide Awakes aggressively opposed the South's right of self-government-voting to leave the Union was not "overthrowing" the government. As the war arrived, many Wide Awakes joined the Union Army and got a taste of actual combat.

Sources: "Hartford Wide-Awakes," Today in History: July 26, ConnecticutHistory.org, http://connecticuthistory.org/hartford-wide-awakes-today-in-history/;

"All-Seeing Eye," Crystalinks.com, http://www.crystalinks.com/allseeingeye.html; "Absolutely shocking facts about the GOP," from Deny Ignorance, Above Top Secret, The Above Network, January 15, 2012; John Grinspan, "Young Men for War: The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign," The Journal of American History, 96 (September 2009), http://archive.oah.org/special-issues/lincoln/contents/grinspan.html; "THE WIDE-AWAKES; Fear of the Wide-Awakes at the South Idle Apprehensions," New York Times, September 29, 1860, excerpted from the Columbia (S.C.) Guardian. NOTE: Middle class, blue-collar White Protestants dominated the Know Nothing party. Leery of immigrants taking their jobs and strongly anti-Catholic, they ran Millard Fillmore for president in the 1856 election. Remaining anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic and neutral on slavery, the Know Nothings declined and many former members became Republicans.

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