Confederate military justice

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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I purchased this book today and it is already making me think of questions.

bill bill 666.jpg


First question: Why were Virginia soldiers tried at court-martials at a higher rate than other states? More Virginians were criminals or Virginia preferred to use court-martials for soldiers more often than other states over relatively minor offenses. The confederate unit with the most trials was the 57th Virginia which tried 260 men. The 18th Virginia Battn. H. Arty held 137 court-martials
 
The Confederate Army had 15 offenses that could get one the death penalty.

Better watch "Raising False Reports" or "Sleeping on Post". Also "Forcing a Commander to Surrender".
 
I think the answer is going to be what offense were they court martial for?
 
On order. Sucker for military law.

The officers IMHO determine courts martial. Some may do informal, others formal. Could be as simple as Lee's influence or the number of former officers from the Union or West Point grads.
 
This book will be rather dry to read. I did read the manual of Court-Martial when I was in the Army as well as the entire U.S Code of Military Justice and the Michigan Code of Military Justice.
 
The Confederate Army had 15 offenses that could get one the death penalty.

Better watch "Raising False Reports" or "Sleeping on Post". Also "Forcing a Commander to Surrender".

I have diary's that tell about seeing soldiers shot by firing squad but they were for desertion. A court martial in any army is serious especially in the CS army. But they could be for "foraging, Drunkenness, awol etc. Most VA troops fought in and around VA so there is no telling the offenses. In the late days of the CW the rules went out the window.
 
The officers IMHO determine courts martial. Some may do informal, others formal. Could be as simple as Lee's influence or the number of former officers from the Union or West Point grads.
Yep. This is a story recounted decades later by my relative, Lawrence Daffan of the Fourth Texas, and published posthumously. This takes place after the retreat from Gettysburg in 1863:

We then marched to Culpepper, where we camped a while, then on to Fredericksburg, thence to Port Royal, where we camped some weeks.

While at Culpepper we had something of a riot in our regiment, caused by one of the regiment being ordered to wear a ball and chain, which we thought was a disgrace to our regiment and to the State of Texas. A number of us boys, who did not know any better, attempted to take him from the guard. Charges of mutiny were made against twenty-five of us, and we were put under arrest. Our captains were responsible for our appearance at court. This relieved us from drill and every other duty for six weeks of the summer.

Our trial was ordered to take place at General Longstreet's headquarters, at Fredericksburg, in the first days of September, 1863. We were then camped at Port Royal, twenty miles east of Fredericksburg. We were all ordered to report to General Longstreet's headquarters, near Fredericksburg, to be tried. On the way there I stopped at my uncle's home, Champ Jones, twelve or fifteen miles from Fredericksburg, and did not arrive at Fredericksburg until after my "crowd" had arrived there. In going, I was alone. There was no guard with any of us. In looking for the headquarters where I might be tried, I went to the camp of the battalion of artillery, and the major commanding met me. I asked him to tell me where the General's headquarters were, and he said "At the Reynold's place, a large, white house about a mile away." He said, "What are you going for?" I said, "I am going to be court-martialed for mutiny." He said, with astonishment, "What, looking for a court to be court-martialed? That beats everything I ever heard of." I said, "yes," and he replied to go ahead, that he didn't think I would be shot. I was then eighteen years old. We were all cleared through the influence of General Lee.

I have no idea as to the truth of Daffan's account, but stories like his added immensely to the Lee's reputation among the men who served under him.
 
WAR DEPARTMENT, C.S.A, Richmond
November 22, 1861

John Letcher
Governor of Virginia:
SIR:

Will not your convention do something to protect your own people against atrocious crimes committed on their persons and property? There are in the Army, unfortunately, some desperate characters - men gathered from the outskirts and purlieus of large cities - who take advantage of the absence of the civil authorities to commit crimes, even murder, rape, and highway robbery, on the peaceful citizens in the neighborhood of the armies. For these offenses the punishment should be inflicted by the civil authorities. Our people must not lose their respect for the law. Some legislation is absolutely indispensable to provide for the changing of the venue, for carrying the accused into some county where the process of law is not prevented by the presence of armies. There are murderers now in insecure custody at Manassas who cannot be tried for want of a court there, and who will escape the just penalty of their crimes. The crimes committed by these men are not military offenses. If a soldier, rambling through the country, murders a farmer or violates the honor of his wife or daughter, courts-martial cannot properly take cognizance of the offense, nor is it allowable to establish military commissions or tribunals in our own country. I appeal to Virginia legislators for protection to Virginians, and this appeal will, I know, be responded to by prompt and efficient action.


I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J.P. Bemjamin, Secretary of War
 
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I purchased this book today and it is already making me think of questions.

View attachment 122611

First question: Why were Virginia soldiers tried at court-martials at a higher rate than other states? More Virginians were criminals or Virginia preferred to use court-martials for soldiers more often than other states over relatively minor offenses. The confederate unit with the most trials was the 57th Virginia which tried 260 men. The 18th Virginia Battn. H. Arty held 137 court-martials
Don't forget the lack of complete records for the Confederates. These numbers may be incomplete.
 
'Military Justice' - an oxymoron!

Execution Plan.jpg

Diagram of the execution of Nicaragua Smith, 1863.


It could be harsh and arbitrary at times. There were two executions here at Galveston during the war, both for desertion. Nicaragua Smith was shot here in January 1863, after deserting from the Confederate garrison here out to the Union fleet, and then being recaptured in a Federal uniform shortly after the battle of Galveston. Exactly no one, except perhaps his wife, was sorry to see this happen, because he was a well-known figure here even before the war, infamous for being behind all sorts of criminal activity that no one could ever quite catch him at. Before the war he was once forcibly put on the steamer for New Orleans with orders never to return.

The other case was much more tragic, a young man who tried to desert to the Federal fleet but was captured and sentenced to be executed. His fellows appealed to the chaplain and some others, who agreed to travel to Houston to seek a reprieve for him. They actually had to make the 50-mile journey using a hand car. When the time for execution came, the garrison was drawn up in formation and the commanding general had a field artillery battery put in place to prevent any of the condemned man's comrades from rushing the firing squad. The execution was carried out, 15 minutes before a telegram arrived from Houston commuting the man's sentence. In terms of morale and discipline, this spectacle surely made things much, much worse than if he had been sentenced to a lesser punishment.
 
AOW Art. 43 is "Every non-commissioned officer and soldier shall retire to his quarters or tent at the beating of retreat; in default of which he shall be punished according to the nature of his offence."
 
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