Biography:

The Wide Awake Club was a nationwide grassroots paramilitary group that supported Abraham Lincoln’s1860 presidential campaign. The club was founded in Connecticut, and its members were mostly white men in their late teens or early twenties. The members wore black capes and soldier’s caps and carried torches during their frequent midnight marches. The club members addressed each other as soldiers and followed strict rules forbidding them to drink or smoke while in uniform.  Leaders of the club insisted that their organization would not promote violence, but many Democrats and southerners were particularly skeptical.  While most of the rallies were peaceful, some turned violent.  The club dissolved after Lincoln’s election in and many of its members were amongst the first to enlist as volunteers in the Union army.  Over eighty percent of the Hartford chapter served in War.