Color revolution is a catchy term for a mass movement that uses riots and street protests to overthrow a government. But these seemingly organic movements often have hidden hands lurking behind the scenes.
Organizations and organizations fund and promote actions under the guise of democratic movements to overthrow existing regimes through coups d'état. The origins of the Color Revolution are probably traced back to America's first modern war, the Civil War, in which the Confederate Army engaged in decades of innovative and unconventional operations ahead of its time in order to gain independence from the Union Army. It had also been developed for some time.
In May 1864, Captain Thomas Henry Hines arrived in Canada. He combed the taverns and boarding houses of Montreal and recruited a small group of special forces to carry out covert operations for the Confederate Secret Intelligence Service based there. As part of a secret organization, this intrepid cavalry officer planned to incite a rebellion in the Midwest. The Northwestern Plot, as it became known, called for an armed uprising by tens of thousands of Copperhead Democrats and thousands of Confederate prisoners of war. Copperhead was an umbrella term for the radical and emerging dominant wing of the Democratic Party, including secret groups such as the Knights of the Golden Circle and the Sons of Liberty. Politically, the Democratic Party's election platform in 1864 was a truce with the South and the continuation of slavery. These armed mobs, directed by Federal Secret Service operatives, used smuggled weapons and weapons seized from federal arsenals to overthrow local and state governments in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. I tried to.
Hines had reason to be optimistic about the plan's success. The Union battlefield debacle caused unrest in the Midwest and led to Democratic victories in Illinois and Indiana. “The Copperheads have not uttered a word of loyalty, but day and night they spout treason,” the Chicago Tribune commented. Indiana Democrats tried to strip pro-Northern Governor Oliver P. Morton of his National Guard service to keep the state out of the war.
These events forced Lincoln to send thousands of troops to the Midwest. Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts wrote to his colleagues after meeting with Lincoln: . . . The president told me he now fears 'fire in the rear.' ”
Hines found many volunteer commandos among former Confederate prisoners of war who had escaped to Canada. Hines appointed 23-year-old Captain John Breckinridge Castleman as his second-in-command. Both were escape artists.
Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln Special Forces, the Search for Mosby's Rangers, and the Shadow War That Shaped American Special Operations by bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell.
In 1863, many Confederate cavalry officers and their men were imprisoned in Ohio. They had participated in unsuccessful raids by General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Hines and his men dug a tunnel approximately 30 feet long, inspired by Victor Hugo's famous novel Les Misérables, in which they escape through the sewers of Paris. After weeks of work, they finally emerged and escaped by climbing over the prison wall using a rope made from sheets and a grappling hook made from a poker. Hines was recaptured, but once again escaped and penetrated the Confederate lines.
Some of the Copperhead movement, especially the Sons of Liberty, were preparing for rebellion. Lincoln had the power and was sure to be re-elected, and there was no other hope than the use of force…which would end the war within 60 days. ”
The extremist and violent group within the Copperheads had secret signs, symbols, handshakes and armed guards at their meetings. Over the past two years, mobs and individuals within groups have engaged in violence, murder, sabotage, and arson, setting fire to government warehouses and Unionist homes and cutting telegraph lines. Hines and Castleman hoped to use this violence to start a rebellion.
The Democratic convention held in Chicago in late August seemed like the perfect opportunity to use the Sons of Liberty to incite an insurrection and free the 8,000 Confederate prisoners at nearby Camp Douglas. Ta. Hines, Castleman, and 60 Confederate commandos secretly head to the Windy City. But to their utter dismay, when the time for the uprising came, the Sons of Liberty turned cold. Politically, the polls tightened and Copperheads felt they could win at the ballot box.
Undeterred, Castleman and Hines planned another round of rebellion, at election time. However, Union battlefield successes at Winchester, Cedar Creek, and Atlanta changed the course of the war and with it dampened the enthusiasm of many Southern-sympathetic copperheads flocking to the ballot box.
Government agents invaded the Sons of Liberty and several of its prominent members were arrested. Mr. Hines committed another stunning disappearance as he was forced to hide in the springs of a mattress box for most of the day as federal detectives surrounded the Chicago home where he worked and searched the home in vain. had to do. He fled shortly thereafter. Living on the run for a month on the way to Richmond, Hines evaded Union detectives, kicked his lover out of the convent, and found time to honeymoon in Cincinnati, returning to Richmond on December 12. Had the rebellion gone well, the outcome might have been different. As a contemporary newspaper later reported, the war was devastating. “As a result, the whole character of war will change, and the theater of war will be moved from the national borders to the heart of free nations.”
The work pioneered by Hines and Castleman lives on in today's color revolution.
Patrick K. O'Donnell is a bestselling and critically acclaimed military historian and expert on elite forces. He is the author of 13 books, including a new bestselling book about the Civil War. Unvanquished: The untold story of Lincoln's special forces, the search for Mosby's Rangers, and the shadow war that shaped American special operations., It's currently on display in front of Barnes and Noble stores nationwide. O'Donnell's other bestsellers include: essential things, unknownand Immortals of Washington. Mr. O'Donnell served as a combat historian for a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and is a frequent lecturer on espionage, special operations and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for the award-winning DreamWorks miniseries Band of Brothers, as well as documentaries produced by the BBC, History Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com @combatant
