26 W. C, WOODWARD doubtful loyalty and opposed to the Administration, and asking the President to remove him. Copies of the resolution were ordered sent to the National Grand Council at Washington and to the President. This raised the ire of Senator Nesmith, largely responsible for Drew's appointment, and was the occa- sion of a private expression on his part on the Loyal League in general and on some of the dramatis personse in particular. "I am ignorant of your opinion of that organization in Oregon called the Loyal League," he wrote to Deady, 2 * "but I know that your sense' of justice, if not your abhorrence of secret political organizations would force you to condemn so low, vile and dirty a trick. For my own part I regard the organiza- tion with more detestation than I did the Know Nothings. Its Origin and perpetuation in our state is only for the benefit of such lying, dirty demagogues as Gospel Pearne and Guts Gibbs who own, control and run it in Oregon." And Nesmith, though elected to the United States Senate in 1860 as a Democrat had been loyally supporting Lincoln in the prosecution of the war. The Loyal League had a brief course in Oregon. It was organized from patriotic motives, but judging from the records of the councils examined, it found no direct mission to fulfill and dissipated its energies in little political bickerings which were its undoing. The campaign of 1864 opened early in the year. The Union State Central Committee met at Salem, January 6, and issued a call for the various precinct and county conventions, leading up to the state convention to be held at Albany, March 30. 25 The Statesman urged all loyal men to enter upon the campaign with vigor. The Union element of the state lacked organiza- tion, it contended. The Copperheads were declared to be using all the, whips and spurs of party drill clubs, open and secret, and lodges of the Golden Circle, through which "vile lies, false teachings and rankling passion" were disseminated. Union party meetings began to be held over the state. One of the most important of the early meetings was one held at LaFayette 24 From College Hill, Ohio, July 18, 1864. 25 Statesman, Jan. n, 1864.
