O. D. Filley, New England.
John How, Pennsylvania.
Samuel T. Glover, Kentucky.
James O. Broadhead, Virginia.
J. J. Witzig, Germany.
These self-denying, self-sacrificing patriots worked together with Blair in perfect harmony and with the utmost skill. They were more than a match for their Secession opponents in organization and management, and lost very few points in the great game that was played throughout the Winter, with the possession of the City, the State, and the Arsenal for the main prizes.
The Committee of Safety had its Home Guards to offset the Minute Men. Where there were hundreds of these latter drilling more or less openly, with much fifing and drumming and flaunting of Secession flags, there were thousands of Home Guards meeting and training with greatest secresy in old foundries, breweries, and halls, with pickets out to prevent surprise, sawdust on the floors to drown the sound of their feet, and blankets at the windows to arrest the light and the words of command. The drill hall was only approached at night, and singly or by twos or threes, to avoid attracting attention. Most of these Home Guards were Germans, and a large proportion had had military training in Europe. The great problem with them, as with the Minute Men, was to get arms, and both sides watched the Arsenal with its 60,000 rifles and 1,500,000 cartridges with sharp covetousness.
The Governor of Illinois loaned the Home Guards a few arms, but it was expected that these would be repaid with interest from the stores of the Arsenal.
The appointment of Maj. Hagner to the command of the Arsenal was satisfactory to the Secessionists, but there was naturally a good deal of interest as to the bias of Capt. Thomas W. Sweeny. One day a man presented himself at the west gate of the Arsenal and asked to see Capt. Sweeny. Sweeny went to the gate and recognized an old acquaintance, St. George Croghan, the son of that Lieut. Croghan who had so brilliantly defended Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, in the War of 1812, and who afterwards was for many years Inspector-General of the United States Army. Croghan's grandfather had been a gallant officer in the Revolution. It was a cold day, and Croghan wore a citizen's overcoat. On their way to the quarters, the guards properly saluted Sweeny as they passed. Said Croghan, "Sweeny, don't you think those sentinels ought to salute me—my rank is higher than yours?" at the same time throwing open his overcoat and revealing the uniform of a rebel field officer.