The opposition element in Indiana may, in fairness, be divided into two classed - those who simply were not in sympathy with the war and with the policy of the North in preventing secession by force of arms; and those who were distinctly pro-southern in their sentiments. These latter, to whom the opprobrious names of "copperhead" and "butternut" were given, made a treasonable and dangerous element in the population. The South regarded them as a useful leaven, and it is affirmed that John Morgan, when he invaded Indiana, confidently counted upon the active support of such citizens. Prior to the war there existed in the South a secret order known as the "Knights of the Golden Circle" which had for its object the extension of slavery. With the outbreak of the war, chapters of this society were organized among southern sympathizers, first in the border states, then spreading northward into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Here they took the name, "Sons of Liberty," and the order secretly grew till in 1862, according to the report of an investigating grand jury, it had something like fifteen thousand members in Indiana, with Local "castles" or lodges, and an elaborate system of signs, grips, words and signals for mutual identification and communication. The investigation above referred to made by the Grand Jury of the United States Circuit Court, was the result of repeated interference with enlistments, the encouragement of desertion and protection of the deserters, resistance to the draft of 1862, and other manifestations of violence that awakened alarm. The report of the jury gave new cause for alarm as to what might be expected in the way of outbreak, but no active steps against the order were then taken. One good effect of Morgan's Raid the following summer was to stir up anew all the patriotism of Indiana, and this, in connection with important successes to the northern arms and Governor Morton's vigilant surveillance of the society discouraged the "Sons of Liberty."

Morton's remarkable talent for taking a situation in hand and getting in couch with its details is illustrated by an incidental event that is usually spoken of as "the Battle of Pogue's Run." On May 20, 1863, "sons of Liberty" and their sympathizers came to Indianapolis ostensibly to attend a Democratic rally, but really with the intention of making an armed demonstration, the weapons being concealed on their persons. Morton, fully apprised of their purpose, overawed them with a few armed soldiers on the streets. As a train full of them was leaving the depot, homeward bound, someone in a spirit of bravado made the first "demonstration" by firing a pistol from the car window. In response a company of soldiers, on their own initiative, held up and boarded the train. The panic-stricken visitors threw revolvers and knives into the waters of Pogue's Run that flowed beside the tracks, and the soldiers captured many more. The contempt and ridicule brought upon the "Sons" by this fiasco went far toward banishing the fear of them as actual revolutionists.

Their secret signs and passwords were divulged and the name of the order became so odious that it assumed, or tried to assume a new name, the "Order of American Knights," though this name has found no lodgment in the public mind or in history.

The snake, though scotched, was by no means killed, however. Treasonable sentiment and effort continued to work beneath the surface though to this day it is a matter of surmise just how treasonable the secret order was and what the scope of its intent. One writer (J. P. Dunn) affirms that the majority of those connected with these secret organizations "never had any idea that anything treasonable was intended." It is generally believed, however, that the order was sinister and dangerous and that it aimed at nothing less than an organized insurrection throughout several states, including Indiana, and the establishment of a "Northwestern Confederacy" that was to separate from the Union. At any rate a quantity of arms and ammunition concealed in packages or boxes and marked "Sunday-school books" were found in the establishment of Harrison H. Dodd, Grand Commander of the Sons of Liberty of Indiana. He was arrested on the charge of conspiracy against the United States, and then followed the famous "treason trials" by a military tribunal at Indianapolis. This trial began on the 22nd day of September 1864, and the commission that conducted it was composed of General Silas Colgrove, Col. William E. McLean, Col. John T. Wilder, Col. Thomas J. Lucas, Col. Charles D. Murray, Col. Benjamin Spooner, Col. Richard P. De Hart and Col. Ambrose A. Stevens. A number of men besides Dodd were implicated, and the examinations of witnesses brought out much sensational evidence bearing on an intended uprising, the releasing and arming of rebel prisoners, the assassination of Governor Morton and other revolutionary plans. In the course of the trial Dodd himself escaped and made his way to Canada. The court found him, William A. Bowles, Lambdin P. Milligan, Stephen Horsey and Andrew Humphreys guilty of treason. Bowles, Milligan and Horsey were sentenced to death and Humphreys to imprisonment, but all were subsequently pardoned.

Senator Bright's Disloyalty. - In connection with this phase of our history may be mentioned the expulsion from the United States Senate of Jesse D. Bright. Bright was a Madison man, a leading Democrat, and what in this day (in 1915) would be called a political "boss." In 1862 he commanded a friend who had an improvement in firearms to Jefferson Davis, whom he addressed as "His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederation of States," This was regarded as treasonable and Bright was unseated, ex-Governor Joseph A. Wright taking his place.