On Election Day 1864, the Chicago Tribune unleashed a passionate plea for Lincoln's re-election, warning that the nation's fate hinges on voters' willingness to cast ballots. "The duty of to day may not be postponed," the paper thunders, arguing that defeat would render three years of Civil War bloodshed "in vain" and set civilization "a century backward." The front page is dominated by urgent calls for loyal Republicans to guard polling places against Democratic "Copperheads" and prevent voter intimidation. But the real bombshell is a foiled rebel conspiracy: Confederate operatives had planned to liberate 9,000 prisoners held at Camp Douglas, torch Chicago, and create chaos to benefit the peace-candidate General McClellan. Colonel B. J. Sweet's federal troops arrested the conspirators Saturday night—including one "Charley Walsh"—before the plot could unfold. Mayor Sherman, initially seen as sympathetic to the Democratic opposition, suddenly issued a proclamation declaring he would call in military force if necessary to protect the election and preserve order, shocking the "Copperhead" conspiracy circle.

This front page captures the fever pitch of the 1864 election, when Lincoln's presidency genuinely hung in the balance. With the war grinding bloodily through its fourth year, many Northerners were exhausted—McClellan's "peace platform" promised to negotiate an armistice with the Confederacy, effectively recognizing Southern independence. The Tribune's hysteria about rebels and traitors reflects real anxiety: Chicago had substantial Confederate sympathizers and secret societies (the "Sons of Liberty" and "Golden Circle" mentioned here) actively plotting to sabotage the Union cause. The Camp Douglas conspiracy was no exaggeration—it was a genuine attempt at domestic terrorism timed to Election Day. Lincoln needed to win not just on principle but in the battlefield of public opinion, where newspapers like the Tribune shaped crucial swing state voters.

• The Tribune explicitly names thirty-nine Democratic leaders—including newspaper editor W. F. Storey—as signatories to a circular falsely claiming the rebel raiders were Republicans. This was the paper's way of publicly shaming Chicago's Democratic establishment for allegedly harboring Confederate sympathizers.
• Mayor Sherman's conversion from seeming Democratic sympathizer to Union defender is attributed to his son, Colonel Frank Sherman, 'recently returned among us' from a South Carolina prison where he'd been tortured and hunted by bloodhounds. Family trauma literally changed city politics.
• The paper includes a sarcastic hint at Confederate President Jefferson Davis's recruitment strategy: Davis explicitly said rebels needed to win over the 'peace party of the Northern secession,' meaning Lincoln's political opponents. The Tribune is essentially saying: if you vote McClellan, you're doing Jeff Davis's work for him.
• A tiny editorial note mocks the Chicago Times for suggesting that Perkins Bass, the Republican State Executive Committee chairman, orchestrated the rebel plot to discredit Democrats—then sarcastically offers that the Times will next claim Charles Walsh is a Republican operative (when Walsh was actually a Democratic conspirator arrested in his own home full of Confederate weapons).
• The paper references 'Mexican advice' and Maximilian's empire as a potential refuge for defeated Confederate leaders seeking to escape across the Rio Grande—revealing that some rebels were already planning their flight to Mexico before the election even happened.

• The Tribune's masthead lists subscription rates: a daily paper cost $12 per year for mail subscribers, while the weekly edition was just $1.50—making newspapers a luxury good requiring roughly two weeks' wages for a working man. Yet the circulation of such papers literally decided elections.
• Colonel B. J. Sweet, praised as the hero who foiled the Camp Douglas conspiracy, was a relatively unknown local figure before this moment—yet he would become a towering figure in Chicago Civil War history. His arrest of Confederate operatives on November 6-7, 1864, was one of the largest domestic terrorism plots of the war, involving coordination with Canadian-based rebels.
• The Camp Douglas prison itself held 9,000 Confederate soldiers, making it one of the largest Confederate detention facilities in the North. A successful breakout would have created an armed rebel force of nearly division strength loose in a major Northern city—a catastrophic scenario the Tribune's warnings actually underscore.
• The paper's mention of General Hood 'in Tennessee' refers to John Bell Hood's desperate Nashville Campaign, happening simultaneously—the military situation was genuinely dire for the Union even as voters went to polls. Sherman was still grinding toward Atlanta in Georgia, making this election a referendum on whether Americans would stick with Lincoln through continued bloodshed.
• Lincoln won Illinois by a landslide just hours after this edition published—with Chicago delivering crucial margins. The Tribune's Election Day mobilization literally helped save Lincoln's presidency; without Midwest newspapers' campaign intensity and Illinois's victory, Lincoln might have lost and negotiated a settlement preserving slavery and Confederate independence.