Valley Girl Views: When Our Area Had Wide Awake Clubs

Sunday, March 29, 2020

When Our Area Had Wide Awake Clubs

Did your ancestors help to elect Abraham Lincoln? If they belonged to the Wide Awake Clubs in our area, then yes, they did, as those clubs are credited with Lincolns election success.

The Sunbury Gazette, 9/20/1860

In 1858, a group of young men in the very democratic city of Hartford Connecticut organized themselves as bodyguards for visiting Republican candidates.They called themselves the "Wide Awakes". The torches they carried leaked, so they wore shiny oil cloth capes to protect their clothes.

Two years later, in March of 1860, five of those young Wide Awakes went to hear Abraham Lincoln speak at Hartford City Hall. After the speech, they escorted Lincoln by torchlight.

This act inspired the Lincoln campaign to organize Wide Awake clubs for young republican men across the nation. By November of 1860, thousands of clerks, farmers, and factory workers had formed clubs in their hometowns.

The Wide Awakes carries torches and performed military maneuvers in parades. They called their clubs "companies", and the membership had ranks, officers, duties, and a drill manual. They met several times a week.

The uniform, which each member was to furnish for themselves, included a full robe or cape, a black glazed hat, and a torch. Their banners featured a large eyeball.

The Mission Statement of the Chicago chapter gives us some insight as to their purpose:

To act as a political police.
To do escort duty to all prominent Republican speakers who visit our place to address our citizens.
To attend all public meetings in a body and see that order is kept and that the speaker and meeting is not disturbed.
To attend the polls and see that justice is done to every legal voter.
To conduct themselves in such a manner as to induce all Republicans to join them.
To be a body joined together in large numbers to work for the good of the Republican Ticket.

The Wide Awake clubs are given credit for helping Abraham Lincoln win the presidency. The military drills that the club practiced were then put to use, as most of the club members went on to serve in the Civil War.