Brought Back From Canada

As the Civil War was wrapping up, and so was the Dakota War of 1862, when on November 11^th 1865 Dakota Chief Shakopee was hung for his role in the uprising.

Shakopee III or in English “Little Six” was born about 1811 near the town of today’s Shakopee, Scott County, Minnesota.  He was the son Chief Shakopee II.

Shakopee was one of the leaders involved in the Dakota War of 1862.  The death of 13 women and children were placed on him.  Following the uprising in Minnesota, the United States ordered the removal of all Dakota from the State, and so Shakopee fled in early 1863 to Canada.  It was while in Canada in the winter of 1864 that he was illegally captured and brought to Fort Snelling, Minnesota.  Shakopee was brought before a military tribunal for his actions in the Dakota War, found guilty he was sentenced to death.

United States President Andrew Johnson upheld the sentence in early November 1865.  On November 11^th 1865 Shakopee and another Dakota; Medicine Bottle were brought to the gallows at Fort Snelling.  French Jesuit, Father Augustin Ravoux administered the last rights, and the two Dakota were hung.  The St Paul Weekly Press reported that, “the lid was placed over them, and they were taken, each coffin borne by four soldiers, to the place in the Fort assigned for the dead. They were buried at 6 o'clock p.m. in the military burying grounds."  There is some question as to this statement; it seems likely that bodies were sent to an eastern medical college.

The Four Were Hung

Those conspirators in Abraham Lincoln’s assignation, who were sentenced to death, were hung July 7^th 1865 at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary in Washington, DC.

July 7^th 1865 was a hot cloudless day, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees.  General John F Hartranft read the death warrant.  Two soldiers standing under the gallows built on the grounds of the Old Arsenal Penitentiary in Washington, DC, knocked out the post holding the trap door on the gallows.  It was 1:26 pm and the four convicted conspirators; George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, and Mary Surratt, dropped about five feet to their deaths.  They were left hanging about a half hour before being cut down.  The bodies were laid on top of coffins and doctors examined them to make sure each was dead.  After this examination was complete they were buried in shallow graves near the gallows.

 It wasn’t long after that, that pieces of the gallows would be taken as souvenirs.  In 1867 the four bodied were removed and place in a nearby storage building.  President Andrew Johnson had the bodies returned to their families in 1869.  No one came for Lewis Powell’s body.

This is the Death Warrant as read on July 7^th 1865: War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, July 5, 1865.

To Major General W. S. Hancock, U.S. Volunteers, Commanding Middle Military Division, Washington D.C.

“Whereas, by the military commission appointed in paragraph A, Special Orders, No. 211, dated War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, May 6, 1865, and in paragraph 91, Special Order No 216, dated War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington May 9, 1865, and of which Major General David Hunter, U.S. Volunteers is President, the following named persons were tried, and after mature consideration of the evidence adduced in their cases were found and sentenced as hereafter stated, as follows:

1st. David E. Herold

Finding – “Of the specification. Guilty except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler, as to which part, thereof, Not Guilty.” 

“Of the charge – Guilty, except the words of the charge that he combined, confederated and conspired with Edward Spangler; as to which part of said charge; Not Guilty.

Sentence.“And the commission does therefore sentence him the said David E. Herold, to be hanged by the neck until he be dead, at such time and place as the President of the United States shall direct, two thirds of the members of the commission concurring therein.”

2d. George Atzerodt.

Finding.

“Of the specification Guilty, except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler: of this Not Guilty.”

Finding. “Of the charge, Guilty, except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler; of this not Guilty.”

Sentence.“And the commission does therefore sentence him, the said George A. Atzerodt, to be hung by the neck until he be dead at such time and place as the President of the United States shall direct, two thirds of the members of the commission concurring therein.”

3d. Lewis Payne.

Finding.“Of the specification, Guilty, except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler: of this Not Guilty.”“Of the charge Guilty, except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler; of this Not Guilty.”

Sentence.“And the commission does therefore sentence him, the said Lewis Payne, to be hung by the neck until he be dead at such time and place as the President of the United States shall direct, two thirds of the members of the commission concurring therein.”

4th. Mary E. Surratt.

Finding. “Of the specification, Guilty, except as to receiving, entertaining, harboring, and concealing Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlin, and except as to combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler: of this Not Guilty.”“Of the charge Guilty, except combining, confederating and conspiring with Edward Spangler; of this Not Guilty.”

Sentence.“And the commission does therefore sentence her the said Mary E. Surratt, to be hung by the neck until she be dead, at such time and place as the President of the United States shall direct, two thirds of the members of the commission concurring therein.”

And whereas, the President of the United States has approved the foregoing sentences in the following order, to wit:“

Executive Mansion, “July 5th, 1865. “

The foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G.A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, xx, xx, xx, Mary E. Surratt, xxx, are hereby approved, and it is ordered that the sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G.A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and Mary E. Surratt, be carried into execution by the proper military authority under the direction of the Secretary of War, on the seventh day of July 1865, between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and two o’clock p.m. of that day. x x x x x x x ”

Andrew Johnson, “Presd.”

Therefore, you are hereby commanded to cause the foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G.A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and Mary E. Surratt, to be duly executed in accordance with the President’s order.

By command of the President of the United States.

(signed) E.D. Townsend, Asst. Adjt. Genl.

From Soldier To Leader

Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S Grant became United States President Ulysses S Grant on March 4^th 1869.

Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S Grant became the 18^th President of the United States on March 4^th 1869, the first of many Civil War veterans to hold that office.  His first inauguration was performed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P Chase on the East Portico of the White House.  President Andrew Johnson refused to attend the inaugural ceremonies it is believed because President elect Grant had refused to sit with him in his carriage on the ride to his inauguration.  Grant’s inaugural parade included eight divisions of Army, and his inaugural ball was held that night in the Treasury Building.

If you’re interested in reading   

Ulysses S. Grant's First Inaugural Address  this is a good place to start.

The First Union Army Lady Doctor

Doctor Mary Edwards Walker a Union Army surgeon was awarded the Medal of Honor November 11^th 1865 under the recommendation of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Mary Edwards Walker was born November 26^th 1832 in Oswego, New York the daughter of Alvah and Vesta Walker.  She worked on the family farm and took to wearing men’s clothing while working.  She was educated in the local school her mother taught.  After earning her own money to pay for it, Walker attended the Syracuse Medical College, graduating with a medical degree in 1855.  She married Albert Miller a fellow student and the two of them opened a practice in Rome, New York.

When the Civil War started Walker volunteered her service to the Union Army.  At first she was only allowed to operate as a nurse, as the Army didn’t have any other female surgeons.  She was at the First Battle of Bull Run.  Walker worked unpaid as a field surgeon on the front line at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chickamauga.  She was finally made a “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" for the Union Army of the Cumberland in September 1863.  This made Walker the first female Union army surgeon.  She was captured April 10^th 1864, behind the lines helping a Confederate doctor with an amputation and was sent to prison in Richmond, Virginia until exchanged.  President Andrew Johnson had her awarded the Medal of Honor after she was recommended by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas on November 11^th 1865.

Following the war Walker went on to write and lecturer about health care, temperance, and women’s rights.  She died February 21^st 1919.  At her funeral there was an American flag draped over her coffin.  She is buried in the Rural Cemetery in Oswego, New York.

In 1917 the United State Congress removed Walker’s name along with 910 other Medal of Honor recipients from the Roll of Honor.  None of the 911 was asked to return their medal and Walker wore her until her death.

If you’re interested in reading more Dr Mary E Walker  is a good web site to start with.

To Regain His Rights Of Citizenship

Confederate General Robert E Lee signed an Amnesty Oath October 2^nd 1865, but his citizenship was restored.

On April 9^th 1865 at the Wilmer McLean house in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Robert E Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S Grant.  A little over a month later on May 29^th 1865, United State President Andrew Johnson issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon.  There were fourteen classes of people who had been in rebellion against the Union, whom the Proclamation excluded.  If you were a member of one these classes, you had to make a special application directly to the President.  Lee wrote an application on June 13^th 1865, which said, “Being excluded from the provisions of amnesty & pardon contained in the proclamation of the 29th Ulto; I hereby apply for the benefits, & full restoration of all rights & privileges extended to those included in its terms. I graduated at the Military Academy at West Point in June 1829. Resigned from the U.S. Army April '61. Was a General in the Confederate Army, & included in the surrender of the Army of N. Va. 9 April '65.”

Lee was made the president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia on October 2^nd 1865, the same day he signed his Amnesty Oath in compliance with the Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon.  He did not however receive a pardon nor was his right to citizenship returned.

It would not be until August 5^th 1975 that through a joint Congressional resolution, President Gerald R Ford signed the paper giving Lee back his right to be a citizen of the United States.

Robert E Lee’s Amnesty Oath stated that, “I, Robert E. Lee of Lexington, Virginia, do solemnly swear in the presence of almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the states there under, and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamation which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God."

Fourty Acres And A Mule

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders Number 15 on January 16^th 1865.

As Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army marched across Georgia to the sea, tens of thousands of former slaves joined the march.  The slaves joined the Union troops looking for support and protection.  Sherman after meeting with ministers of the black community in Savannah, Georgia and United States Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton about the problem raised by these former slaves, issued Special Field Order Number 15 on January 16^th 1865.

Special Field Order Number 15 provided for the seizure of four hundred thousand acres of land along the coast from Charleston, South Carolina to St John’s River, Florida.  The land was to be divided into 40 acre lots to be given to the 40,000 freed slaves in the area.  Union Brigadier General Rufus Saxton; an abolitionist from Massachusetts, was placed in charge of executing the order.  The order clearly called for black families to settle on the confiscated land, and for the newly freed men to join the Union army.  Sherman also latter ordered that the newly settled farmers be loaned mules by the army.

The Order was revoked in the fall of 1865 by President Andrew Johnson.  Johnson had all lands returned to the planters who had originally owned it.

If you would like to see the actual wording of SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 15.  look at this web site.

A Slow Death

Heinrich Hartmann Wirz the commander of the Confederate Prisoner of War Camp known as Andersonville was executed November 10^th 1865.

Heinrich Hartmann Wirz was born in Zurich, Switzerland November 25^th 1823.  He attended the University of Zurich and practiced medicine before immigrating to the United States in 1849.  Wirz married in Kentucky a widow who had two daughters.  They moved to Louisiana where Wirz started another medical practice and added another daughter to his family.

When the Civil War started Wirz joined the 4^th Louisiana Volunteers as a private.  While serving during the Battle of Seven Pines he was wounded and lost the use of his right arm.  Do to the loss of his arm Wirz was assigned to the staff of Confederate General John Henry Winder, who was in charge of Confederate prisoner of war camps.  In March 1864 Wirz was placed in command of Camp Sumter located near the railroad depot of Anderson, Georgia, which would come to be batter known as Andersonville.  The prison was designed to be used as a temporary holding place for Union prisoners waiting to be exchanged.  With the end of prisoners exchanges, Andersonville would end up holding about 32,000 Union prisoners.

Wirz was arrested in May 1865 and taken to Washington, DC where he was placed on trial for causing the deaths of Union prisoners of war.  A military tribunal was convened July 1865 and presided over by Union Major General Lew Wallace.  The court took testimony from Union prisoners of war, residents who lived near Andersonville and Confederates who had served with Wirz.  The commission found Wirz guilty of conspiracy and eleven counts of murder.  He was sentenced to death.  He wrote a letter to President Andrew Johnson asking for clemency, but never received a reply.  He was hung to death November 10^th 1865 on First Street in Washington, DC where the Supreme Court building is located.  Wirz’s neck didn’t break when the gallows dropped and so he slowly strangled to death.  Wirz is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.

The Last March

The last act of most Union Civil War Soldiers the Grand Review took place on May 23 and 24th 1865 in Washington, DC.


President Andrew Johnsons declared the fighting to be “virtually at an end” on May 10th 1865. Plans began for a review of troops that would be greater then the two celebrations of victory held just before President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. May 23rd 1865 was a clear sunny day. As a single shot fired, the Army of the Potomac marched down Pennsylvania Avenue before thousands. In front of the White House was a reviewing stand for the President Johnson, General Ulysses S Grant and other top officials. General George Gorden Meade dismounted in front of this stand to salute his men and watch his army pass. There were about 80,000 infantry lined up 12 across marching with precision.

These were joined by artillery and a seven mile long cavalry that by its self took over and hour to pass. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee repeated this march the next day.

For most of the Union soldiers this parade was the end of their military duty. During the next few weeks the armies were disbanded.

A good web site for more information on this subject, TO THE LIMITS OF THE SOUL'S IDEAL: THE GRAND REVIEW, MAY 23, 1865

A Part Of Conspiracy

Doctor Samuel Alexander Mudd who was convicted for helping John Wilkes Booth escape after killing President Abraham Lincoln, died January 10th 1883.

Samuel Alexander Mudd was born December 20th 1833 in Charles County, Maryland the son of Henry Lowe and Sarah Ann [Reeves] Mudd. He grew up on his families tobacco plantation about thirty miles from Washington, DC. He was schooled at home by tutors until fifteen when he went to St Johns a boarding school in Frederick, Maryland. Two years latter Mudd began attending Georgetown College, and went on to studied medicine at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. After graduating in 1856 Mudd returned to Charles County, Maryland and opened a medical practice. A year latter he married a childhood sweetheart, Sarah Frances Dyer. To add to his income Mudd grew tobacco and owned five slaves as part of this operation.

With the Civil War beginning in 1861 Maryland’s economy took a hit. In 1863 Union Army Camp Stanton was set up about ten miles from the Mudd farm. Camp Stanton was a place for black freemen and run-away slaves to enlist in the Union Army, six regiments would train there. In 1864 Maryland abolished slavery, and Mudd felt he could no longer keep his farm, and considered selling. It’s believed that this is how Mudd met John Wilkes Booth who was in the area looking at property. Mudd would meet Booth again in Washington, DC December 23rd 1864, when they shared drinks with Louis J Weichmann and John Surratt.

Around four on the morning of April 15th 1865, Booth came to the Mudd home to have a broken leg splinted and bandaged. Mudd made arrangements for a local carpenter to make crutches for Booth. Booth and David Herold, who helped with the escape spent about fourteen hours at the Mudd home. Mudd didn’t know at the time that President Lincoln had been shot, but when he returned from town latter that day he had learned of the news. Mudd waited to inform the authorities of Booth’s presence until the following day which was Easter Sunday. Mudd asked a cousin to notify the 13th New York Cavalry. It was this delay that threw suspicion on Mudd’s being part of the conspiracy. After Booth’s death Mudd was arrested and placed in prison in Washington, DC and was placed on trial for conspiracy to murder President Abraham Lincoln. The eight conspirators were place on trial May 10th 1865.

Mudd was found guilty June 29th 1865, and sentenced to life in prison. He and three of the other conspirators who escaped the death penalty were place in Fort Jefferson about 70 miles from Key West Florida. When the prison’s doctor died, Mudd took over the job saving many men who would have died from Yellow Fever. Mudd received a pardon on February 8th 1869 from President Andrew Johnson. He returned home to Maryland March 20th 1869. He resumed his medical practice, and went back to farming. He even ran for few political position as a Democrat. Mudd died January 10th 1883 of pneumonia, he was only 49. He is buried in the St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Bryantown, Maryland.

The Joint Committee

President Andrew Johnson appointed the Joint Committee on Reconstruction on December 4th 1865, to determine which of the Southern states were entitled to Congressional representation.


The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was created to "inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress." This was the committee which drafted the 14th Amendment, and required the southern states to approve it before having a representative admitted to Congress. The committee of fifteen members divided into four subcommittees to gather evidence and hear testimony of the four military districts in the south. Before they finished the Committe heard from 144 witnesses. They produced a report and its proceedings were recorded in its journal.

The fifteen members of the committee were made up of nine members from the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu Washburne, Justin Morrill, John A Bingham, Roscoe Conkling, George Boutwell, Henry Blow, Henry Grider, Andrew Jackson Rogers, and six from the Senate, Reverdy Johnson, William Fessenden, Ira Harris, James W Grimes, George Henry Williams, and Jacob Howard.

Another web site to look at on this subject is Report of the Committee Joint Committee on Reconstruction

A Pledge Of Loyalty

Union General Thomas Leonidas Crittenden died October 23rd 1893.

Thomas Leonidas Crittenden was born May 15th 1819 in Russellville Kentucky the son of United States Senator John J Crittenden. He studied for the bar with his father and began a practice in 1840 in Kentucky. Crittenden served during the Mexican American War as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 3rd Kentucky Volunteers and an aide to General Zachary Taylor. Following the war he served as the United States Consul in Liverpool.

Kentucky declared neutrality when the Civil War began in 1861. Crittenden pledged loyalty to the Union [he had other family members who joined the Confederacy]. He was appointed Brigadier General and given command of the 5th Division in the Army of the Ohio. He saw action at the Battle of Shiloh, Battle of Stones River, during the Perryville Campaign and many others. Crittenden resigned his command December 13th 1864.

In the years after the war Crittenden was the Kentucky State Treasurer. President Andrew Johnson asked him to return to military service, which Crittenden did on July 28th 1866 as a Colonel in the 32nd Infantry. He was given a brevet rank of Brigadier General in the United State regular army for his service at the Battle of Stone River, before retiring in 1881. Crittenden died October 23rd 1893 in Annadale, New York. He is buried in the City Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Crittenden’s son John Jordan Crittenden III died at the Battle of Little Bighorn while serving with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in 1876.

First Impeached Governor

Governor of North Carolina; William Woods Holden on March 22nd 1871 became the first US Governor to be impeached out of office.


William Woods Holden was born November 24th 1818 near present day Eno River State Park, Orange County North Carolina. When he was sixteen he began a apprenticeship with the owner of the Hillsborough Recorder a newspaper located in Hillsborough North Carolina. By 19 Holden was working for the Raleigh Star in Raleigh North Carolina as a printer and writer, and by 1843 he owned the North Carolina Standard. Holden began his political career in 1844 when he was elected the North Carolina House of Commons.

In 1861 Holden was sent by the voters of Wake County to vote against secession at the State Convention. He joined the others in voting to seccesed when President Abraham Lincoln called for North Carolina to raise troops for the Union. Holden was a member of the North Carolina peace movement and was outspoken against the government of the Confederacy.

Holden was appointed Provisional Governor of North Carolina by President Andrew Johnson in 1865. He would be elected as a Republican to the job from 1868 to 1871. Holden hired detectives and requested military aid in 1869-70 to try to fight the Ku Klux Klan, taking a stand that most other southern governments ignored. In 1870 when the Democratic Party regained majority in North Carolina, Holden was brought up on impeachment charges around the Klan activity. He would become the first Governor in United State History to be removed from office through impeachment on March 22nd 1871.

Holden moved to Washington DC following the impeachment and became the editor of the National Republican. He would latter move back to Raleigh North Carolina and work as Post Master there. Holden died March 1st 1892.

Another web site about the subject that may of interest
William Woods Holden, 24 Nov. 1818-2 Nov. 1892

Goverment Help

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land was voted on and passed through Congress on March 3rd 1865,

The Bill which created the Freedman’s Bureau, was started by President Abraham Lincoln. It was to set up as a government organization to aid former slaves and displaced poor southern whites with education and employment. The Bureau was to run for one year following the end of the Civil War. Congress passed the Bill into Law on March 3rd 1865.

The Bureau was part of the United States Department of War. Its first head was Union General Oliver Otis Howard. The Bureau operated from 1865 to 1872, when President Andrew Johnson disbanded the group. The original job of the Bureau was to provide food, housing, medical aid, and reunite families. It would also set up schools for the former slaves, more than 1,000 were built and staffed including many of the African American Colleges still educating in the United States today.

There was hostility against the Freedmen’s Bureau from many southern whites. The plan to redistribute land to freed blacks taken from Southerners who fought for the Confederacy was thwarted by Andrew Johnson pardoning these men and returning their land to them. The agency was filled with corruption and came to an end in 1872.

One Last Gift

President Andrew Johnson had a Christmas gift on December 25th 1868 for all the Rebels.

General Ulysses S Grant was getting ready to become President in March 1869. One of the last momentous acts President Johnson would sign was the unconditional official pardon for all Confederates on December 25th 1868. There had been amnesties which required signed oaths issued earlier by Abraham Lincoln and Johnson.

Recommended web site related to this subject
Proclamation - Granting Full Pardon and Amnesty for the Offense of Treason Against the United States During the Late Civil War

The First Republican VP

The 15th Vice President of the United States, Hannibal Hamlin was born August 27th 1809. He served with Abraham Lincoln during his first term.

Hannibal Hamlin was born at Paris Hill, Oxford, Maine August 27th 1809, the son of Cyrus and Anna [Livermore] Hamlin. He attended school at the Hebron Academy in Maine, ran his families farm, worked as a surveyor, in a printing office, as a school teacher, and finally he studied the law. Hamlin would be admitted to the bar in 1833, and practice in Hampden, Penobscot, ME.

He began his political career in the Maine State House of Representative in 1836. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1848, by the antislavery wing of the party to fill the vacancy left by the death of John Fairfield. In 1854 he opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise. When the Democrats endorsed the repeal at the National Convention in 1856, he left the party and became a Republican. Hamlin was the Governor of Maine from January to February 1857, when he resigned to be elected to the US Senate as a Republican. He would be elected Vice President on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln in 1861. He was strongly in favor of arming African American’s during the Civil War, and supported Joseph Hooker’s appointment to commander of the Army of the Potomac. Feeling frustrated by the lack of work involved in being the Vice President, Hamlin enlisted as a private in Maine Coast Guard and attended the summer encampment in Kittery ME in 1864. In 1864 Hamlin was not re-nominated for a second term, passed over instead for Andrew Johnson. He ended his political life as the United States Minister to Spain from 1881 to 1882.

Hamblin died July 4th 1891 while playing cards in Bangor Maine. He is interned in Mount Hope Cemetery.

The End of the Bloody Conflict

The official end of the Civil War was declared on August 20th 1866.

Although many people assume the end of the Civil War occurred when General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses S Grant met in Appomattox in April of 1865, the war continued on for many more months. In April Mosby’s Raiders, and General Joseph E Johnston troops surrendered or disbanded. In May they were followed by Major General Dabney Herndon Maury the commander of Florida and South Georgia, Edmund Kirby Smith, and others. The last battle of the war was fought on May 13th 1865 at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas. The last Confederates to surrender were those on board the CSS Shenandoah, who gave up on November 6th 1865.

President Andrew Johnson made a formal declaration to the end of the war on August 20th 1866. He signed the “Proclamation—Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America.”

American Statesman

An American Statesman and lawyer Jeremiah Sullivan Black died on August 19th 1883.

Jeremiah Sullivan Black was born in Stony Creek, PA January 10th 1810. He was a basically self educated man, and admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar before he came of age. He worked his way up to become one of America’s leading lawyers. From 1851 to 1857 he was on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In 1857 President James Buchanan appointed Black to be his Attorney General. At the end of President Buchanan’s term, from December 17th 1860 to March 4th 1861, Black served as the US Secretary of State. He argued during this time that Fort Sumter needed to be reinforced and better defended, that it was un-constitutional for a state to secede, but it was also illegal for the Federal Government to coerce a state. President Buchanan nominated Black to the Supreme Court, but he was defeated by single vote. At this point Black severed for two years as the Reporter of Decisions of the US Supreme Court, before he return to private practice.

Fallowing the Civil War, Black was strong opponent of the Congressional view of Reconstruction. He even drafted the message that President Andrew Johnson gave when vetoing the Reconstruction Act of March 2nd 1867. For a time he was President Johnson’s counsel during his Impeachment trial. He died August 19th 1883 at the age 72 in York County, Pennsylvania.

The Power Of One Vote

On May 8th 1907 Edmund Gibson Ross, whose vote kept Andrew Johnson from being impeachment, died in New Mexico.

Edmund Gibson Ross was born December 7th 1826 in Ashland Ohio. He went to work in the newspaper business first in Sandusky Ohio, Milwaukee Wisconsin and Topeka Kansas. While in Kansas he was the editor of the “Tribune” which was the only Free-State paper in the territory. He enlisted in the United Sstates Army as a private in 1862, and was made a major by 1865. After Senator James H Lane committed suicide in 1866, Ross was appointed to fill his term and than was elected to the position as a member of the Republican Party. Ross became the seventh of the seven Republicans to break with the party, and he cast the vote which acquitted President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Ross loss his re-election bid in 1870.

After leaving the Senate, Ross returned to the newspaper business, starting a publication in Coffeyville Kansas. Unfortunately on April 23rd 1872 a tornado that went through Coffeyville destroyed the newspaper office. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland in 1885 to the position of Governor of the New Mexico Territory, a position he held until 1889. He died May 8th 1907.

President John F Kennedy [at this time a senator] included Edmund Gibson Ross in his 1956 book “Profiles in Courage”.

The First Civil Rights

On March 27th 1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

As a counter measure against the Black Codes which had been enacted in the former slave states following the passage of the 13th Amendment, the Republican controlled Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Included in this act were rights that included the ability to make contracts, sue, own private property, inherit, and be witness in court. President Johnson vetoed the bill because it would “operate in favor of the colored and against the white race”, and he didn't believe blacks had the qualifications to be United States citizens. Fortunately the Republican’s had enough votes in congress to override the Presidential Veto, and the Act passed on April 9th 1866. This Civil Rights Act of 1866 was strongly undermined by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and in the end failed.

The Judge-Advocate

John Bingham who presented the Government’s side in the trial of the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln died March 19th 1900.

John Bingham the son of a carpenter was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, January 21st 1815. After working for a few years as a printer, he decide to study the law at Franklin College. After being admitted to the bar he opened a practice in Cadiz, Ohio in 1840. He served as a Republican Representative from Ohio from 1855 to 1863. He advocated for emancipation, and in January 1864 was appointed judge-advocate. It was in that position that he presided over the trial of Abraham Lincoln’s assassins.

Bingham returned to Congress in 1866 and was one of the leaders in trying to impeach President Andrew Johnson. He drafted the first section of the 14th Amendment during reconstruction, extending constitutional protection of due process. In 1873 he was appointed United States Minister to Japan, a position he held for twelve years. He died March 19th 1900 in Cadiz, Ohio.