Ohio History Journal

THE HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION

By WAYNE JORDAN1

 

 

A corporal, four privates from the Union Army and a deputy

United States marshal sloshed through mud all day and neared

Hoskinsville, Ohio, on the evening of March 11, 1863.                 They did

not enter the village immediately, but stopped at a house about

a mile away.

The posse had come to get two Noble County boys who were

in bad with the Government. The deputy marshal, Samuel Colby,

had a warrant for the arrest of Tertullus W. Brown, who was

charged with "aiding and abetting and enticing a soldier to de-

sert."2   The corporal, James F. Davidson of the 115th   Ohio,3

had an order for the arrest of John Wesley McFerren as a de-

serter from the 78th Ohio, "now and then stationed at the city

of Memphis in the State of Tennessee."4 Brown, soon to be

described by the editor of the Noble County Republican as "a

copperhead of the most venomous kind,"⁵ had sent a letter in

January to McFerren, who was his cousin.⁶ The letter did not

reach McFerren, for he had left the regiment,⁷ but somebody

opened it and read:

 

1 This article has been made possible by the researches of K. W. McKinley of

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Library staff, to whom I am

indebted for most of the contemporary newspaper accounts that are cited. Thanks

are also due to Josephine E. Phillips, who surveyed source material at Marietta, and

to F. A. Hight, deputy clerk of the United States District Court, Cincinnati, who

helped me in finding essential records.--W. J.

2 Report of "The Examination of the Noble County Resistants before Com-

missioner Halliday," Cincinnati Enquirer, April 2, 1863; reprinted in McConnelsville

Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863. Also, see Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April 2, 1863, and

the Crisis (Columbus), April 8, 1863.

3 Company A.

4 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 2, 1863, and McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April

8, 1863; L. H. Watkins & Co., pub., History of Noble County, Ohio (Chicago,

1887), 247.

5 Noble County Republican (Caldwell), quoted in Zanesville Daily Courier,

April 1, 1863.

6 Ibid. Also Watkins, Noble County, 277. McFerren was a boy in the colloquial

sense only. He gave his age as 21 when he enlisted on December 5, 1861 (Ohio

Roster Commission, Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War

of the Rebellion, 1861-1806 (Akron, Ohio, 1893-1895). VI, 382), and his tombstone gives

his birth date as July 10, 1840. The Census of 1860 gives Tertullus's age as 16.

7 Cincinnati Gazette, March 20, 1863; Crisis, April 1, 1863; Marietta Republican,

April 9, 1863; Watkins, Noble County, 277.

319

• 1
 

320      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Well, Wesley, my advice to you is this, and it is not given without

much reflection, knowing the danger to which such a step will expose you.

Come home if you can possibly get home, for to conquer the South is an

impossibility, and the only hope for you to reach home is to desert, for to

stay where you are is death, and to desert can be no worse. If I was in

your place I would leave the first opportunity.⁸

In February this letter had come to the hands of Flamen

Ball, United States district attorney for Southern Ohio,⁹ and a

copy had been sent to Governor David Tod, or at least to the

adjutant general of Ohio.¹⁰ The law and the military joined

forces for action.     Alexander Sands, the United States marshal

at Cincinnati, sent Colby, and Lieutenant Colonel Eastman of the

115th sent Corporal Davidson and his men.ll Sands had asked

Eastman     for the military     assistance.¹²   The latter's orders to

Davidson read:

Special Order No. 51

Corporal James F. Davidson, with Privates John D. West, John Hagne

H. Z. Sims, Company A, and J. S. Raid, Company 1, 115th Infantry,

Ohio Volunteers, will proceed to Hopkinsville [sic], Noble County, Ohio,

and arrest private J Wesley McFerren Company G. 78th Infantry Ohio

Volunteers, a deserter. and bring him immediately to this place.

Corporal Davidson will assist United States Marshal A. C. Sands in

arresting and bringing to this place such persons as he may name.

By order of Lieut. Col. Eastman

AND. C. KEMPER,  A. A. G.13

Armed with such instructions, and bearing the civil warrant

for Brown, the little expedition had moved out of Cincinnati on

March 9.   The place to which their mission led them             was in

the most literal sense a crossroads town in the hills, having two

intersecting streets--"Main" and "Cross"--and no more.¹⁴                  The

 

8 Noble County Republican, quoted in Zanesville Daily Courier, April 1, 1863;

Frank M. Martin, The County of Noble (Madison, Wis., 1904), 91.

9 Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (Cincinnati, 1868), 1, 125.

10 Noble County Republican, quoted in Zanesville Daily Courier, April 1, 1863;

Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863; Crisis, April 1, 1863.

11 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 2, 1863, and McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer,

April 8, 1863.

12 Ibid. (Sands testifying under oath.)

13 The order is printed here as it appeared in the McConnelsville Weekly

Enquirer, April 15, 1863. This source has the order bearing the date April 6, which

is obviously a typographical or clerical error.

14 Wall, Mann & Hall, pub., Illustrated Atlas of Noble County, Ohio (Phila-

delphia, 1876), 35; Watkins, Noble County, 489, 496 et passim. Hoskinsville is in

Noble Township, which was organized in 1819 and which remained a part of Morgan

County until the creation of Noble County in 1851. The village was platted in 1839

and named for Colonel Erastus Hoskins, its first postmaster, who had come to Ohio

from Connecticut.

• 2
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                        321

 

house at which they stopped on the eleventh was that of Moses D.

Hardy. Both Brown and McFerren were reported at home with

their families and Hardy would help to find them.

A former member of the Ohio Senate, Citizen Hardy was a

loyal Union man or "a leading Black Republican,"¹⁵ depending

on the point of view. Later he was to be described as "the per-

son who has figured so conspicuously in this matter"16 and "the

chief manager of the affair in Noble County."17  That Colby

knew where he was going when he stopped at this man's house

is hardly open to doubt. Since the deputy marshal's sworn testi-

mony is available, let him go on with the story:

[I] told Mr. Hardy the object of my business; heard that a spelling or

singing school was to be in the neighborhood that evening, and that prob-

ably Mr. Brown would be there. After dark [the] soldiers and myself went

to the school house and made an examination and found Brown not there.¹⁸

At this point the arresting party split up. Taking with him

one of the soldiers and J. F. Lukens, a boarder at Hardy's whom

he had deputized, Colby went to the home of Edmund P. Brawn,

father of the letter-writer. Corporal Davidson and the rest of

the squad went to the home of Samuel McFerren, father of

Wesley, but Wesley was not at home.19

From Lukens comes an eye-witness account of the scene at

the schoolhouse and at the Brown place:

[I] went into the schoolhouse with Mr. [Moses] Barnhouse. The Cor-

poral and Marshal came in afterward. The Marshal, walking into the middle

of the school-room, addressed the school teacher by asking "if a Mr. Brown

was there?" The teacher replied, "No sir, the Brown you want is not here,

but there is a Mr. Brown here." The Mr. Brown referred to [a cousin of

Tertullus] went outside with the Marshal. The event caused quite an ex-

citement, and the school rose up and made a rush to the door. There were

about fifty or fifty-five in the room, twelve or fifteen being females.

At Brown's home, according to Lukens, the marshal's inquiry

 

15 Crisis, April 1 and April 8, 1863; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863.

Hardy, a native of Maine, according to the 1850 Census, was at this time a man

past the middle forties. Howard Elliot Gilkey's The Ohio Hundred Year Book

(Columbus, 1901) lists Hardy as senator from Washington and Morgan counties in

the 52nd General Assembly, which first met on January 7, 1856.

16 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863.

17 Crisis, April 8, 1863.

18 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863. (Reprinted from Cincinnati

Enquirer, April 2, 1863.) Testimony at the examination before U. S. Commissioner

Halliday in Cincinnati. Part of punctuation mine.

19 Ibid. (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1863.)

• 3
 

322    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

was answered by a woman who said, "He is not at home but you

can search the house."

Marshal Colby then searched the house. When he came down stairs,

we found Mr. Edmund Brown, the father, had returned. . . . Mr. Colby

then told Mr. Brown's father that he was a deputy United States Marshal

and had a warrant for his son. To an inquiry where he was Mr. B. replied,

"Do not know where he is--he went toward the village about dusk."20

The unsuccessful searchers of both phalanxes went back to

Hardy's house to spend the night, the corporal having left word

with McFerren's family that he had an order for Wesley's arrest.

Early the next day J. R. Nickerson,²¹ a local abolitionist, arrived

at Hardy's to tell Colby "that a mob of seventy-five to one hun-

dred men was raised in Hoskinsville to resist us."

Going through town about 9 o'clock, the deputy United States

marshal saw "about one hundred men in the town with muskets

in their hands." As he rode up, he heard a command given to

fall in line. "The crowd fell into line," he recalled later. "One

hundred men at least had guns, and many were near by unarmed."

Someone in the line asked Colby if he were a soldier, and he re-

plied, "No, I don't look much like a soldier." Another asked, "Who

are you?" and Colby's answer was, "These are the muddiest roads

I ever saw." The tribute to Noble County's roads was prompted

by the deputy marshal's unwillingness to say who he was "because

it did not look very healthy to do so."22

As Colby remembered the incident, it was admitted freely

that the men the posse was seeking were in the crowd, and he

overheard such remarks as, "We defy anybody or any authority

getting the prisoner away from here." Someone said, "I think

he is the man who was in the school house last night." Another

said, "I don't believe he is." The upshot of it all was that Colby

went away without serving his warrant, "because we could not find

the defendant, and because I thought it could not be served; my

reason was, what I heard and saw led me to believe that no two

or three men could possibly take [the] defendant away."23

20 Ibid.

21 Son of Rev. Sparrow Nickerson, identified by Watkins as Free Soil nominee

for lieutenant governor in 1845.

22 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863. Colby's testimony in Cin-

cinnati. (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 2, 1863.)

23 Ibid.

• 4
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION               323

 

Corporal Davidson, who had been 100 yards or so behind

Coyle, thought "⁷⁵ to 100 men were drawn up in line" and

observed that "²⁰ to 25 men were following us, all armed." Three

men trailed the posse as it left town, he said, "but made no

demonstration."24 Virgil T. Brotton, who had been at the school-

house the night before and had spent the night in Hoskinsville,

saw three men go by with guns while he was putting his clothes

on. When he went into the street he "saw the people collecting,

armed and unarmed" near and in "the storehouse of John

Racey's," swearing and saying "they intended to go to Mr.

Hardy's, and tear down his house, disarm the Federal soldiers,

and parole and send them home." He heard no threats against

the marshal, however.²⁵

Thomas Crooks, who was in the village about 7 o'clock on

the morning of the 12th, reported that the crowd appointed

Wesley McFerren "as Captain to go up to Mr. Hardy's." When

the crowd "said they were going to disarm the soldiers, and parole

them and send them to their regiment" and threatened to hang

Hardy "because he was an Abolitionist," Crooks "saw trouble

pending and went home." There were "about 50 armed with

guns, mostly rifles," he noted. "Mr. Samuel Engle admonished

the crowd not to go to Hardy's house but to disperse; before I

left they went into the meadow and were drilling under Mc-

Ferren."26

Samuel McMunn and 15-year-old John W. Emmons,²⁷ both

from the neighboring village of Sharon, were also in Hoskins-

ville that morning. McMunn, who "only remained ten minutes,"

heard talk about "catching the soldiers, taking their arms and

paroling them." Emmons saw "about 80 drawn up in line in front

of Racey's store." Counting those not in line, "about one hun-

dred had arms." Later the lad testified that McFerren said,

"If any ten men will follow me, I will go and take the guns

 

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Emmons was elected treasurer of Noble County in 1899 and re-elected in 1901.

Martin, County of Noble, 92, 186-7.

• 5
 

324                 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

from       those soldiers."    Some started     to go, but Sam      Engle

stopped them.²⁸

Upon this scene, between 9:30 and 10 o'clock, rode Repub-

lican Hardy, as though inviting martyrdom, and observing that

"the chief business after I arrived was to pass some compliments

to me." Samuel McFerren, father of the deserter, accused Hardy

of "traitorously conducting Abolition soldiers to the arrest of

innocent boys" and said anyone doing that "ought to have a hole

bored through him, and I can and will do it." A voice said "No

you won't Sam," but Sam said, "Yes I will." Hardy's recollec-

tion was that this was repeated two or three times, but he was

"too busy with those nearer me, on each side of my horse, to

attend to him."29

Some were yelling "shoot him" and "hang him" when John

Racey came charging out from      his store, rifle in hand. Grabbing

Hardy's leg and shaking it, Racey stormed, "What have you

been acting the fool in this way, for? I want you to give an

account of yourself. What have you been keeping these Abolition

soldiers up there for and running around to point out the neigh-

bors' boys."30  The irate Racey had seized Hardy by the collar

when Thomas Racey, his brother, intervened and tried to take

away the rifle. There was considerable scuffling, after which

John Racey said, "If you will promise to go home and behave

yourself, we will let you off." He also told Hardy that if he got

into another scrape, the crowd would go to his house and "not

leave a grease spot of him."

About this time John Wesley McFerren in person stepped

into the affray with, "You have a revolver about your person-

deliver it up." "Suppose I have one--you have one also," Hardy

replied. "Yes, and I'll use it too," McFerren insisted.

 

28 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April

2, 1863.) The same report of these proceedings was carried in the Crisis, April 8,

A similar but not identical report appeared in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette. Some

of the testimony favorable to the defendants has been toned down or deleted from

the Gazette's report.

29 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 15, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April

5, 1863).

30 Ibid. These are Racey's words as Hardy remembered them when testifying

under oath. Free use has been made of the direct quotations contained in the news-

paper abstracts of the testimony. Despite the limitations of any witness's recollec-

tion of words uttered by another some weeks before, these quotations have an

authentic Noble County flavor and give an insight into the "rebellion" that would

otherwise be lacking.

• 6
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                   325

 

With Curtis Willey holding Hardy's arm and William Archer

holding his horse's bridle, McFerren and some others tried to find

the revolver, Willey commenting meanwhile that there were "not

enough Abolitionists nor Abolition soldiers this side of hell to

take away a boy from Noble County." After this Hardy "jumped

from the horse and started to leave the crowd; was ordered to

halt, but not being a military man, did not halt." 31

"It's a thundering shame the way they used Hardy at

Hoskinsville," Archibald Baker remarked to William W. Barn-

house later in the day.

"It will learn Hardy to attend to his own business hereafter,"

Barnhouse answered.³²

When Henry Willey,³³ a Republican, saw Andrew Coyle and

said, "It's a bad state of affairs," Coyle told him he had been

looking for it and that it might as well come then as any time.

Then Willey suggested that the soldiers would be back and Coyle

said he expected them, adding "We'll have to fight." Willey's

wife heard that and said she wanted to be a hundred miles away

before the fighting started. "It won't excuse you," Coyle went

on. "There will be fighting all over the country." Willey talked

about the superior strength of disciplined soldiers. "We can shoot

them from the woods," Coyle persisted.³⁴

At a hotel in Caldwell next day, E. W. Daniels saw Samuel

Marquis and three others come in from    Hoskinsville. "I have

been at the Hoskinsville war," Marquis volunteered. "They had

no difficulty with them and the soldiers." Telling how Hardy had

"poked his nob in, and they put him round," he added, "We are

going to whale you fellows [the Republicans] this summer; you

whaled us last summer, and turn about is fair play." 35

Stevenson Trimmer of Brookfield Township, who had been

"insulted" as he rode through Hoskinsville, was talking to Lewis

Fisher about it on the 15th. Fisher thought the Hoskinsville

 

31 Ibid.  Still Hardy's version.

32 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3,

1863). Baker's testimony.

33 A cousin of Curtis Willey.

34 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3,

1863). Willey's testimony.

35 Ibid., April 15, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1863). Daniels' testimony.

• 7
 

326     OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

crowd had been drinking freely, and said, "Racey ought to be

bumped for selling essence to the boys." 36

That such talk and more talk persisted for days need not

be questioned, but what is known to history as the Hoskinsville

Rebellion or the Noble County Insurrection had reached its high

tide. The events that have been described are the sum total of

the rebellion per se. The bloodless retreat of the deputy United

States marshal, the corporal's squad and Mr. Hardy was at once

the Bull Run and the Gettysburg of this uprising. Do not think,

however, that the story has ended. Even a microscopic war must

have its Appomattox, and the denouement was to be the best

part of the drama. The newspapers were yet to be heard from,

and Mr. Colby had scarcely scraped the mud of Noble County

from  his boots before the engines of politics and propaganda

were throbbing at such a rate that there were echoes in the far

corners of the land.

The Guernsey Times,³⁷ reporting the "disgraceful occur-

rence" at Hoskinsville, included among "the particulars" the

following:

By some means the traitors of Hoskinsville and vicinity had learned

that a squad of soldiers was coming to arrest Brown and McFaren [sic],

and the traitorous cowards to the number of two hundred, armed with

rifles, collected together to prevent the arrests. On the arrival of the

soldiers and Deputy Marshal, the mob informed them that they must leave

the county within six hours, and that if they did not do so they would hang

them. Seeing the impossibility of making the arrests with their small

force, the soldiers left and are now here [in Cambridge], awaiting further

instructions from the military authorities of the State, to whom the Deputy

Marshal has made report.

We have not yet learned what course will be pursued, but trust that

a sufficient force will be sent out to arrest all who were engaged in pre-

venting the arrests, and that the punishment their cowardly and traitorous

acts deserve, will be meted out to them in such a manner as to be a warn-

ing to others not to engage in resisting the civil and military authorities.

The St. Clairsville Gazette 38 learned from the Noble County

Republican that men "armed to the teeth" had threatened the

marshal and his squad the night of their arrival "and notified him

to leave before 6 o'clock next morning." 39    Another report, pre-

 

36 Ibid., April 8, 1863 (Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1863). Trimmer's testimony.

37 Reprint in Belmont Chronicle (St. Clairsville) March 26, 1863.

38 March 23, 1863.

39 A detail that is not borne out by Colby's testimony before Commissioner

Halliday.

• 8
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                    327

 

served for posterity in Whitelaw Reid's Ohio in the War, 40 was

that the men at Hoskinsville were "regularly organized and

officered" and that their captain had "pleasantly proposed to the

deputy United States marshal and squad that they surrender and

be paroled as prisoners of the Southern Confederacy!"

Adding fresh fuel to the flame, the "Democracy of Sharon

and vicinity" met in the Sharon schoolhouse two days after the

retreat of the Federals from Hoskinsville and organized a Demo-

cratic club "to inculcate among the people correct views of Liberty,

and of the Constitution" to the end "that arbitrary and uncon-

stitutional measures may be checked." Sharon and Hoskinsville

are only three miles apart. Affirming loyalty to "the Govern-

ment of our Fathers" and reverence for "the Union and the Con-

stitution, as the foundation of our Liberties," the society unani-

mously adopted the following resolutions:

 

Resolved, That we will sustain the Administration in its efforts to

maintain the "Constitution as it is--and the Union as it was," believing as

we do, a policy of this kind would alike strike at Secession at the South

and Abolitionism at the North.

Resolved, That the imputations made by the Abolition Party against

Democrats of being opposed to the Constitution, and sympathizing with

Rebels in arms, is false, and made for partisan purposes, that the unconsti-

tutional men of the North from whom danger is to be apprehended, are

those who seek to convert the war into a war against Slavery, and the

sovereignty of the States.

Resolved, That Abolitionism and its twin sister secession are the

cause of all our National difficulties.⁴¹

Another resolution deplored a recent attack on the offices

of the Crisis and the Statesman in Columbus and pledged support

to their editors in "denouncing the unconstitutional usurpations

of power by the Federal Government under the plea of War

Necessity."42   The club elected William   Norwood as its presi-

dent, and although he did not know it, one of the perquisites was

to be a trip to Cincinnati with a military escort.⁴³  Coming when

it did, the meeting was heralded as further proof of organized

 

40 Vol. I, 125. See also Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863.

41 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, March 25, 1863.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid. Also issue of April 8, 1863.

• 9
 

328     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

resistance in Noble County and before long a correspondent of

the Cincinnati Daily Gazette was sending this from Cambridge:

On the Saturday after the corporal's guard had left, a large meeting

of the butternut Democrats of the county was held at Sharon, the object

of the meeting being to decide whether the chivalric butternuts had better

fight out the battle with the squad of soldiers whom they presumed would

be sent, or whether they had better hide. By a large majority the meeting

decided on fighting out the battle to the last man, remarking that they

would have to fight sometime, and they might as well commence at once,

or wait until the draft was enforced and resist that. After this action

had been taken, these traitors regularly organized themselves for resist-

ance, and prepared themselves for an attack, some state, fortifying Hoskins-

ville, while others say establishing themselves on one of the hills in the

vicinity.44

The Noble County Republican reported that men engaged

in protecting the Hoskinsville deserter had passed one resolution

"recommending the raising of money by contribution for the pur-

chase of arms to enable them successfully to resist a draft, should

another be ordered," and another resolution calling for "the

assassination of an obnoxious person." 45

Meanwhile, Colby and Corporal Davidson had reported to

their superiors in Cincinnati. Marshal Sands again applied to

the military, and Lieutenant Colonel Eastman issued the follow-

ing order:

 

HEADQUARTERS, CINCINNATI, O.

March 16, 1863

Captain Lewis F. Hake, with Companies B and H, 115th O. V. I.,

provided with three days cooked rations in their haversacks, and seven

uncooked, and forty rounds of ammunition in their cartridge boxes, will

report to U. S. Marshal A. C. Sands, to proceed to Cambridge, Guernsey

county, Ohio, for the purpose of assisting Marshal A. C. Sands in making

such arrests in that and adjoining counties as he may be authorized to make,

and bringing the persons arrested to this city.

From Cambridge City to such points in Guernsey and Noble counties

as they may be required to go, the troops will march. They will return to

this city as soon as possible in compliance with these orders.

Captain Charles D. Schmidt, A. Q. M., will provide the transportation

necessary to the execution of this order.

By order of LIEUT. COL. EASTMAN.

A. C. KEMPER, A. A. G.

U. S. MARSHALL A. C. SANDS.46

 

44 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863.

45 Watkins, Noble County, 277.

46 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863.

• 10
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION             329

• 11
 

330    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

This second expeditionary force left Cincinnati the morning

of March 18 and reached Cambridge that evening "on a special

train of four passenger cars and a baggage car." 47   Both the

departure and the arrival were announced on page 2 of the Cin-

cinnati Daily Gazette on the 19th under the headline, "A SPECK

OF WAR IN OHIO." Evidently the editor liked that headline,

for he used it again on page 3 over a special dispatch from Cam-

bridge which said the town was enthusiastic over the arrival of

the troops and that reports were "hourly assuming an aggravated

and alarming character. . . . The number of those in armed

resistance against the Government is estimated at from 600 to

1,000, while the more moderate do not think there can be more

than two hundred. . . . There is no want of confidence among

the officers or men."

Other editors took their cue from the Gazette's headline. The

New York Tribune of the 23d announced:

 

SMALL SPECK OF WAR IN OHIO--A number of disreputable

citizens of Noble County, Ohio, have held a meeting and determined to

resist the Government in arresting deserters. It is said that from 600 to

1,000 have organized and armed themselves for the purpose. Two com-

panies of the 115th Regiment have been sent to the insurrectionary district

to maintain law and order.

And on the same day, also in the Tribune, another dispatch

under "SMALL SPECK OF CIVIL WAR IN OHIO" telling,

under a Cincinnati dateline, of the arrival of the troops at Cam-

bridge and editorializing:

Thus looms up a speck of civil war, the first results of the Copper-

head doctrines preached throughout Ohio and Indiana. A report of the

deserters in two Ohio regiments, received by the Detective police in this

city [Cincinnati] this week, foot up 512. If the same policy has to be pur-

sued in their apprehension as is being followed in Noble County, it will

need a small army in this State alone.

On   March    17  the  Toledo  Blade   used  the  headline,

"TREASON IN NOBLE COUNTY--RESISTANCE OF

LAW," but on the 20th it was discussing "the killing of an officer

in Noble County for attempting to arrest a deserter,"48 under a

 

47 "Telegraphic Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial" in Belmont Chronicle

March 26, 1863.

48 The Blade was in error. This revolt was bloodless.

• 12
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                         331

 

headline which read, "The ISSUE AT HAND--A SPECK OF

REBELLION IN OHIO." The Daily Courier ⁴⁹ titled the item

"NOBLE COUNTY SECESH" when reporting the passage of

the troops through Zanesville en route to the theater of war, and

the Ohio State Journal⁵⁰ used "COPPERHEADS IN NOBLE

COUNTY" over an article which began:

We learn that certain persons of the Copperhead persuasion in Noble

County have summoned up enough pluck to declare war against the United

States Government, and put themselves in an attitude of rebellion against

its legally constituted authority.  They are organized as we are informed

into a force of 500 or 600 strong, and make awful threats against any force

that may come against them. We have not yet learned whether they have

raised the "Stars and Bars" of Jeff. Davis or not, but presume they prefer

the "rattlesnake flag," as that is first cousin to copperhead....

There was much history in the making to busy the press in

the spring of 1863 but more than one Ohio paper viewed what

was going on in Noble County as a matter of moment. For

many of them, of course, the incident was virtually a "local story"

and it further qualified as news by being the first of its kind in

the state.⁵1   Besides, the possibilities for partisan       exploitation

were tremendous, and there was little temperate journalism in

those months. A few of the Republican organs, like the Marietta

Register, handled the story gingerly.⁵² Others pounced upon the

"riotous proceedings" 53 with enthusiasm, to extract from           them

the last tidbit of journalistic meat. Well in the forefront of all

these was the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, which rushed a staff cor-

respondent into the field with the troops. The first night out

found this correspondent, who signed himself "F. C.," sending

a 2,000-word dispatch which began:

 

49 March 19, 1863.

50 March 20, 1863.

51 E. H. Roseboom and F. P. Weisenburger, A History of Ohio (New York,

1934), 279-80; Watkins, Noble County, 275.

52 It can be surmised, but not proved, that the editor of the Register played

down the events in Noble County because he thought they were too full of dynamite.

Washington County had its disaffected elements, too, and the Register may have

acted on the belief that it was not good public policy to enlarge upon what was

happening in neighboring Noble at that time. The paper devoted single paragraph

items to the subject on March 17, April 10, and April 17. On other occasions the

Register lambasted the Democrats of Noble County with a gusto which would indicate

that more than mere editorial temperance prompted the comparative silence in regard

to Hoskinsville.

53 St. Clairsville Gazette, March 26, 1863.

• 13
 

332     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

HEADQUARTERS SOUTHEASTERN OHIO

EXPEDITION, CAMBRIDGE

GUERNSEY CO., OHIO, March 19

The War in Ohio! It must seem strange to a foreign observer,

having witnessed, perhaps with strong surprise, the uprising of the Northern

people, at the outbreak of the Southern rebellion . . . to witness the

gradual change from loyalty to apathy, and from apathy to rampant treason,

which the efforts of traitors in our midst have been only too successful

in producing. In talking with the Union inhabitants of this district, in

which, unlike its neighboring county--Noble county--the majority are Union,

all this great change is attributed to the teachings of such political dema-

gogues as Vallandigham and Olds, &c....

It is a strange and perhaps unexpected sentence with which to begin

this letter--the war in Ohio--but according to present appearances it

seems more than likely it will be substantiated by events ....54

Dire indeed was the plight of the loyal men in Noble County

as portrayed by this reporter. The corporal's squad had "found

in their journey that the proportion of Union to Secesh inhabitants

was one to twenty." Living in "a state of continual fear," the

Union men "know each other well, and are in the habit of hold-

ing stolen interviews with each other after the manner of the

Vaudeau peasants in the time of the Catholic persecutions." At

the houses of these people the corporal's squad had been treated

kindly, "and were taken care of free of charge," F. C. went on,

"while at the neighboring houses they were turned away and re-

fused a mouthful of bread or a drink of water notwithstanding

their offer to pay liberally for it."

 

"Pay me in Southern scrip," said one old traitor, "your greenbacks

won't be worth a cent in six months." "Your backs won't be worth a

d--n when the government's got through with you," was the laconic reply.55

Truly an amazing state of affairs in a county which had

voted for Lincoln in 1860 56 and which had given Tod 1,650

votes to Jewett's 1,292 in the state election of 1861.57 Cambridge,

in contrast, was the soul of hospitality when it recovered from

the "excitement occasioned by the somewhat unexpected arrival"

of Marshal Sands, United States Commissioner Halliday and "two

 

54 Dated March 19, the dispatch was published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette,

March 20, 1863. The Olds mentioned was Dr. Edson B. Olds of Lancaster, former

Democratic Congressman, who spent several months in prison because of his utterances.

55 Ibid.

56 Roseboom and Weisenberger, History of Ohio, 262.

57 Cleveland Morning Leader, March 23, 1863.

• 14
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                   333

 

hundred brave, well-armed" soldiers.⁵⁸ The troops were quartered

for the night in the Town Hall and the Guernsey Times reported

with evident pride that "although they were provided with ten

days' rations, our citizens prepared a warm breakfast for them

and took it to the Hall." The correspondent of the Cincinnati

Commercial likewise reported "great rejoicing" in Cambridge over

the arrival of the troops, and said Marshal Sands was preparing

for "vigorous work" after learning that the Butternuts in Hoskins-

ville were "fortifying houses." 59

Both the Commercial and the Gazette assured their readers

that the morale of the soldiers was good. "Their only fear,"

according to the Commercial, was that the "secessionists will not

stand fire."  Opinion on that was divided but the Commercial

observed, "There is no question, however, that should resistance

be met there will be bloody work in Noble county." 60 The

Gazette's F. C. said the troops had cheered loudly when told "that

they were going to fight home traitors," and that one prominent

Cambridge citizen had remarked "that it was a real joy to all to

find such a fine detailment of men sent forward to put down

treason." 61

Marshal Sands, referred to as "the General" by F. C. "for

the sake of convenience," held court at Brown's Hotel, where he

was waited on by the Cambridge citizenry. "He then proceeded

to organize a staff, and to hear the reports of several refugees

who have been driven from Noble County by the rebels there."

Citizen Lukens came in to tell how Moses Hardy had narrowly

escaped being ducked in a horse pond and how a one-legged sad-

dler named Matson had been beaten "in a shameful manner" and

threatened with hanging if he "ever dared to advocate the sup-

port of the Government." 62

Like a good war correspondent would, F. C. concerned him-

self with campaign strategy, making inquiries regarding the terrain

 

58 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863.

59 "Telegraphic Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial" in Belmont Chronicle,

March 26, 1863.

60 Ibid.

61 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863.

62 Ibid. Lukens is "Joseph F. (a graduate of Ohio University, Athens, 1866),

superintendent of schools, Lebanon, Ohio." See Watkins, Noble County, 482.

• 15
 

334     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

and learning that Hoskinsville "lies north of a small run known

as Duck creek, and is commanded by a hill which lies directly

north of it. The woods which surround the place have fortunately

been cleared away just so far as to leave us in the shelter of the

woods, and bring us within range of them, while we should be

out   of  range   of  their  squirrel rifles."    He   thought that

"twenty volunteers, fully armed and mounted" who had joined

the expedition in Cambridge would "doubtless do excellent serv-

ice as scouts." 63

Reflecting on such matters, the expedition slept, partook of

Cambridge's hot coffee, and started out on the morning of March

19.64 With it, as a kind of recording secretary was F. C., sniffing

for the smoke of battle:

 

We left Cambridge on Thursday morning at nine o'clock, the main

body of troops passing on first, marching four abreast, and the baggage

trains following close after, a small guard bringing up the rear. Our

General, the Marshal, accompanied by Capt. Hake, an officer whose efficiency

is unquestionable, and a few other gentlemen, mounted on horseback, taking

the lead. The roads were in such a bad condition on the direct route to

Hoskinsville, through Hiramsburg, that we were obliged to take a cir-

cuitous route to Cumberland, a small town lying about nine miles north-

west of the place of our destination, distant sixteen miles from Cambridge.

Other considerations also led to the adoption of this plan, for should

the rebels be assembled in such force as was reported, it would not only

bring us within easy marching distance of Hoskinsville in the morning,

but also enable us to make use of the night in sending out scouts to recon-

noiter. Halting about two hours at Clayville, a twin sister to that most

despicable of all villages, Hoskinsville, we reached Cumberland about four

o'clock in the afternoon.  Our troops were quartered amongst the in-

habitants of the place, the Marshall and his staff, (amongst which your

correspondent was fortunate enough to be included,) making the Cumber-

land Hotel the headquarters.

We had not been long in these quarters, before we received a press-

ing invitation to take up our abode in the house of a Mr. John Foster, one

of the strongest Union men, as well as the wealthiest resident in the place.

As we could not do this on account of the importance of the officers being

directly among the men, we compromised the matter by paying a com-

plimentary visit, and were most hospitably entertained. Mr. Foster has

what may be called a model farm; it is very well stocked, but in the mat-

ter of sheep its proprietor takes a special delight, and has traveled far and

wide in order to procure the finest specimens of this animal. A lot of

Spanish sheep were the pride of the whole neighborhood; the wool grows

in such profusion as to be absolutely astonishing, so that the wool around

 

63   Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 20, 1863. The Zanesville Daily Courier of

the same date says Captain B. S. Herring commanded the volunteers.

64  Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863. Reprint from Guernsey Times.

• 16
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                      335

 

the animal's eyes has to be kept sheared in order that they may see; it also

grows down to their hoofs, making their legs look more like bears' legs.

After spending a very pleasant evening, we returned to the hotel,

when four scouts were sent out to reconnoiter. They returned about four

o'clock in the morning and reported having seen the watch fires of the

insurgents in close proximity to Hoskinsville, and a little south of that

place. They had also seen one or two Union residents of the place, who

stated that the rebels had gathered from the whole neighborhood, number-

ing altogether about two hundred men, in order to resist the advance of

the Union force. Also that they had elected McFerren, (the deserter whose

attempted arrest had produced this insurrection,) as their Captain and that

he had organized them into companies, and all that day and Wednesday

they had been drilling, being armed mostly with their own squirrel rifles,

but having a goodly show of the Government Enfields, and some few of

them having bayonets affixed.65

As soon as possible we were again on the march, sending a force

of 20 horsemen about half a mile ahead of the main body of troops, sup-

ported by a detachment of forty infantry, and throwing out pickets in the

woods on each side of the road. In this way we advanced into Hoskins-

ville, but on our arrival there we found the village deserted. Like Caesar

we can say veni, vidi, but we must rest content for there was nothing left

in Hoskinsville to conquer but one lame man (and he was a Union man)

and a crowd of weeping women. While we were yet a great way off, over

two miles, this great assemblage of Democratic patriots took to their heels

and broke for the woods, leaving their captain, himself a deserter, deserted

in his turn. He did not stay, long, however, but with the true spirit of

Copperheadism, which is a concentration of the proverb concerning the

superiority of discretion over valor, he also took to his heels, leaving the

place without a single defender.

Our boys, on entering the place, at once took possession of the church

and school-house, which they soon converted into comfortable and con-

venient quarters.  In the evening, fearing a night attack, pickets were

posted on the hills around, an arrangement which resulted in the capture

of three or four of the insurgents, who, unable to endure the biting cold

wind and pitiless storm of snow and sleet, which was falling, were endeavor-

ing to creep along unobserved to their homes.66

Even less sympathetic in his account of the investiture of

Hoskinsville was the reporter of the Guernsey Times,⁶⁷ who was

informed that when "the gallant band of patriots" approached

the village the advance guard was "greeted by some ladies, we

should say she devils, who poked their heads out of a mean and

miserable looking hut, with cheers for Jeff. Davis and Jo.

White."68   He added that "disappointment and mortification of

 

65 It must be admitted that the Enfields and the bayonets add color to F. C.'s

story, however much they may detract from its authenticity. Bayonets and imported

English rifles are rarities in Hoskinsville today and probably were then.

66 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 23, 1863.

67 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863.

68 Local color. Joseph W. White (1822-1892) was a Cambridge lawyer whom the

Democrats had elected to Congress in 1862.

• 17
 

336      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

both officers and men were great when on reaching the mean little

village" they found only the one-legged Matson, and that "the

curses heaped upon the cowardly miscreants by the soldiers, if

not loud were deep."

As soon as he was installed in his headquarters in the school-

house, Marshal Sands began taking names and Commissioner

Halliday began writing warrants.⁶⁹ At this point, Hardy came

back into his own.      Like an avenging angel, he flew       about, sick-

ing the army and the law on his neighbors. First, he swore out

the complaint:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO,

CITY OF CINCINNATI, Ss:

Before me, Franklin Halliday, a United States Commissioner ap-

pointed by the Circuit Court of the United States, of the Seventh Judicial

Circuit, and Southern District of Ohio, personally appeared this day Moses

D. Hardy, who being first duly sworn, deposes and says, that he has good

reason to believe, and does verily believe, that on or about the 12th day of

March, A. D. 1863, and at Noble County, Ohio, in the District aforesaid,

the parties below mentioned did knowingly and wilfully obstruct, resist and

oppose Alexander C. Sands, United States Marshal for said District, in

serving and attempting to serve a warrant issued by me on the 4th day

of March, 1863, as Commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States

for said District, commanding him, said Marshal, to arrest one T. W.

Brown, who was charged in said warrant with the crime of aiding and

enticing a soldier to desert from the army of the United States.⁷⁰

Sworn to and subscribed in my presence, this 20th day of March, A. D.

1863, the city and District aforesaid.71

FRANKLIN HALLIDAY

United States Commissioner

The "parties below mentioned" for whom warrants were im-

mediately issued were:

William   Archer⁷², Mahlon    Belford, William    Barnhouse, Taylor

Bivens,⁷³ Robert Boggs, Andrew Brown, Charles Brown, Edmund Brown,

69 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 23, 1863.

70 Ohio Statesman (Columbus), March 24, 1863; Belmont Chronicle, April 2,

1863. The Chronicle text, copied from the Guernsey Times, says "on or about the

13th of March." The incident described took place on the 12th.

71 A legal form, no doubt. Both Hardy and Halliday were in Hoskinsville on

the 20th.

72 This list is based on four sources: Ohio Statesman, March 24, 1863; St.

Clairsville Gazette, March 26, 1863 (Reprint from Cincinnati Enquirer); Belmont

Chronicle, April 2, 1863 (Reprint from Guernsey Times); Reid, Ohio in the War,

I, 126. Each of these sources shows its own variations in the names, some obviously

typographical. Acquaintance with families involved has made some corrections easy,

while other names have been checked against biographical sketches in the Watkins

and Martin county histories, and the "Business Directory" contained in the Wall,

Mann & Hall atlas of 1876. For individuals in this list who were subsequently in-

dicted, the federal court records at Cincinnati have afforded an additional check, but

even that does not assure correct spelling in each instance.

78 Or Bivins. Sometimes spelled Bivans.

• 18
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                          337

 

Richard Burlingame, Abel Cain, Samuel Cain, William Cain, Henry Camp-

bell, William Campbell, Andrew Coyle, John Coyle, Abner Davis, William

Davis, Henry Engle, William Engle, Lewis Fisher, Melvin M. Fisher, Elisha

Fogle, G. E. Geddes,⁷⁴ James Harkins, Joshua Hellyer,75 Harrison Jones,

Joseph Jones, Andrew Lowe, William Lowe, James McCune, Joseph Mc-

Cune, William  McCune, David McFerren, Joel McFerren, Richard C. Mc-

Ferren, Samuel McFerren, James McGee, Benton McKee,76 George Manifold,

John Manifold, Arthur Marquis, John Marquis, Samuel Marquis, William

Norwood, Joseph Pitcher, Joshua Pitcher, William Pitcher, George A.

Racey, John Racey, Peter Racey, Thomas Racey, Peter Rodgers, Andrew J.

Stoneking, Benton Thorla,77 Jacob Trimble, Gordon Westcott, Absalom Wil-

ley, Asher Willey, Curtis Willey, George Willey, Milton Willey, Wesley

Willey, William Willey, George Ziler.78

This list indeed, resembled nothing quite so much as a

"Who's Who" of old and respected families of the community.

Most of these men were Ohioans of the second and third genera-

tion,79 and it would be hard to prove that affection for the South

had anything to do with their politics. The Browns were Yankees,

the father and grandfather of Tertullus having come from Rhode

Island. Also of Rhode Island origin were the Burlingames and

the Westcotts, while Benton Thorla's father was a native of New

Hampshire. The McFerrens were a Pennsylvania family, and

so were the McKees. The Willeys and the Barnhouses repre-

sented both Pennsylvania and Virginia, while the Raceys were

definitely of Virginia stock.

A tentative survey of the 1850 Census of Noble Township,

in which Hoskinsville is located, indicates that the heads of

families enumerated were of these origins:

 

74 "Gaddis" in all four of lists cited. "Geddis" in McConnelsville Weekly

Enquirer, April 15. George E. Geddes was justice of the peace in Noble Township

at this time. Just how he had offended Hardy is not clear. A few months later

Geddes became captain, then lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment Ohio Militia.

He was a Greenback candidate for Congress in 1878. Watkins, Noble County, 505.

75 Pronounced "Hilliard."

76 "James McKee, Benton McKee," in Reid, Ohio in the War; "James McGee,

Benton McGee," in the Statesman; "James McGee, Benton McKee," in the Gasette

and Chronicle. There were both McGees and McKees in Noble Township, the latter

being more active in Democratic politics. Federal court records show that indict-

ments for obstructing process were returned against both James McGee and James

McKee, and Benton McKee was indicted for conspiracy.

77 Pronounced "Thurlow." "The village of Belle Valley (Benton Thorla, pro-

prietor) was surveyed and divided into lots in 1875, by William Lowe." See Wat-

kins, Noble County, 497.

78 St. Clairsville Gazette says "Ziller," Chronicle says "Zider."  There was a

Ziles family at Hoskinsville.

79 Watkins, Noble County, 483-4, et passim. Martin, County of Noble, passim.

The Brown, Burlingame, McKee, Fogle, Davis, Thorla, Hellyer, Willey and Westcott

families are represented in the Noble Township poll list of 1820 or on the tax list of

the township for that year.

• 19
 

338     OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Born in                                                         Men          Women           Total

Ohio  ...........................                                106          159                265

Virginia ........................                                60            48                  108

Pennsylvania ....................                           60            41                  101

Maryland .......................                               10               6                 16

New Hampshire ................                            9                 4                 13

Rhode Island ...................                             7                 3                            10

New Jersey .....................                              6                 4                 10

New York ......................                               4                 4                            8

Connecticut .....................                             3                 2                 5

Massachusetts ...................                            1                 3                 4

Maine      ..........................                            2                 1                 3

Delaware .......................                               2                 1                 3

District of Columbia .............                                                   1                      ...  1

Ireland .........................                                 10               7                 17

England ........................                                2                 1                 3

Canada .........................                                1                 1                            2

Scotland  ........................                                                             1                      ...                              1

Illegible or Unknown............       1          1    2 80

Condensing, the tally gives Ohio 265; Middle Atlantic States

122; Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia 125; New Eng-

land 35; British Empire 23. While the Virginia-born group looms

large, the New England representation was heavier than this

tabulation would indicate. Immigration from New England to

this region reached its peak in the years following the war of

1812 and virtually ceased after the 1820's, while Virginia immi-

gration was marked in the 1830's and 40's. For this reason, the

New England element of the township in 1850 was chiefly repre-

sented in the Ohio-born group. There was not a Negro in the

township, and it must be remembered that those enumerated as

Virginians were essentially of that stock which kept western Vir-

ginia in the Union.

Most of the men accused, as the law was to find later, had

done nothing at all to warrant arrest. If they were insurgents,

their insurgency had far more kinship with western Pennsylvania's

Whisky Rebellion of an earlier day than it had with Southern

Secession. Generations of frontier life had bred a love of liberty

that might go a little out of bounds in "learning" one like Hardy

"to attend to his own business."

While Hardy was using the soldiers to track down "the Hell-

80 In some instances doubt arises whether individuals should be classed as heads

of families or not. The table may be accepted, however, as an approximation showing

the representative character of the township.

• 20
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                 339

 

deserving scoundrels" who had "most shamefully abused"⁸¹ him,

the war of the editorial writers raged on. Most uncomplimentary

to the yeomanry of Noble County was the Cincinnati Commercial,

which said, "Those of our citizens who have seen the Virginia

and Kentucky bushwhacking cut-throats who have from time to

time passed through here, can form a very good idea of the fea-

tures, form, dress, manner and conversation of these people, who,

living in a section of the state far removed, apparently, from

civilization, have been influenced in their ignorance by the vitu-

perative arguments of such papers as the Cincinnati Enquirer." 82

The Cincinnati Daily Gazette, which from the beginning had

viewed the incident as "the natural fruit of the teachings of dis-

loyal presses and politicians,"83 now assailed Clement L. Val-

landigham for having referred to the constitutional right to keep

and bear arms. "The rebels have the same constitutional right to

bear arms in Tennessee and Alabama, as in Ohio and Indiana,"

the Gazette opined, "and our troops have the same right to dis-

arm rebels in one State as in another. This is one country, and

the same sauce is fit for the Northern gander as for the South-

ern goose."84

The day the troops reached Hoskinsville, the Ohio State

Journal was remarking that the Hoskinsvillains would be "put

through on the 'lightning line'," adding that they "and others like

them must remember that there is now an act of Congress" pro-

viding punishment for those who "resist the law in behalf of

deserters from their flag."85  The Guernsey Times hoped that

"such journals as the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Crisis and

Statesman" would "see in this riot the legitimate effect of their

teachings, and change their course."86 To the Morgan Herald

it was clear that Democratic leaders were to blame for the actions

of the Noble County folk. "Those misguided men were only

attempting to carry out the doctrine of opposition to the adminis-

tration," said the Herald. "And now they must suffer the penalty

81 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2.

82 Cincinnati Commercial, quoted in Toledo Blade, March 30, 1863.

83 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 19, 1863.

84 Ibid., March 23, 1863.

85 Ohio State Journal, March 20, 1863.

86 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863.

• 21
 

340     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

for their conduct, while these same leaders, who had been using

them as tools or catspaws in this work, are safely enjoying the

comforts of home and the protection of our laws."87

In the other political camp there was no effort to condone

desertion or lawlessness. The Cincinnati Enquirer declared, and

the St. Clairsville Gazette agreed, "This resistance to the arrest of

deserters is extremely culpable and merits reprobation, and we

hope to hear no more of it. The true doctrine is obedience to

constituted authorities when acting in the line of their authority,

and redress of all grievances through the ballot-box and through

the Courts."88 The archly Democratic Marietta Republican, while

finding that the affair had been "greatly magnified," asserted,

"Lawlessness of any kind can do no good, and all right-minded

men will unqualifiedly denounce everything of the kind."89 The

McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer denied that the people of Noble

County were "rebels, because, forsooth a few may be guilty of

conduct unbecoming good and law-abiding citizens." If it was

true that some had tried to resist the arrest of a deserter, they

had done wrong. "Such conduct is justly reprehensible," the

Enquirer held, "and deserves the severest rebuke. We do not

know the extent to which the matter was carried in Noble county.

We think not sufficient to justify the sending of so large a mili-

tary detachment as was sent there."90

Skeptical from the beginning was the Crisis, commenting that

"a great parade of military" had been made in the direction of

Noble County, "but as we can hear nothing at all of a reliable

character, we are led to believe the whole affair to be very like

a humbug."91 A week later the Crisis was convinced it had

believed correctly, and warned, "If such scrapes are to be gotten

up to make abolition votes in Ohio, it will be a dear electioneering

campaign for the taxpayers." 92

 

87 Morgan Herald, May 1, 1863.

88 St. Clairsville Gazette, March 26, 1863.

89 Marietta Republican, April 9, 1863. The Republican, so named in the Jeffer.

sonian sense, was first issued in 1849 with Amos Layman as editor. At the time of

the Hoskinsville rebellion Layman was with the Ohio Statesman, and the Republican

was breathing its last in the hands of one C. Rhodes. Its office had been sacked on

the night of March 21, and the issues of March 26 and April 2 were printed on

single sheets 3 columns wide. It died the following November.

90 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 1, 1863.

91 Crisis, March 25, 1863.

92 Ibid., April 1, 1863.

• 22
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                      341

 

Most impressive of the anti-administration editorials written

over l'affaire Hoskinsville was that in the New York World, titled

"THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL IN OHIO." Com-

menting on the Commercial's report that "bloody work" impended

in Noble County, the World said:

 

It is beyond question that the government is simply doing its duty in

enforcing the return to their regiments of men who have dishonestly and

basely abandoned their banners, and that no combinations of citizens can

be safely permitted to thwart this action of the government.

But how has it come to pass that any considerable number of the

people of a northern State are found willing to condone this crime of

desertion and protect the criminals at the risk of their own lives?  The

capture of all the deserters in Ohio, the bloodiest of "bloody work in Noble

county," will not answer this query.

Yet the answer is not far to seek. It is before the whole country in

the perversion of the war--in the mismanagement of the war so perverted

--in the obstinate refusal of a radical faction to heed the remonstrances,

to consult the interests, or to obey the behests of the people. Two years

ago the disgraceful spectacle of a Northern county compelled by force of

arms to do its duty to the nation would have been impossible. Upon those

who have made it possible let the scandal rest to sting them, if it may be,

into an honorable and profitable shame. . . .

The present outbreak in Ohio is an opportunity as well as a danger.

It reveals to the government the extent of popular disaffection which it has

to fear from an obstinate perseverance in its declared policy. To deal with

that disaffection as Napoleon dealt with the "sections" in Paris, to silence

it with grapeshot, will neither mitigate its intensity nor avert its eventual

triumph. To deprive it of fuel by a saner and a more constitutional policy

will be indeed to kill it--to suppress it without a single wrong to Liberty,

to convert into a loyalty as frank and as active as that which lit up the

land from East to West in reply to the first flashes of the guns from

Sumter, two weary years ago.⁹³

Whatever qualms the editor of the New York World may

have had, John L. Shaw, sole editor and proprietor of the Noble

County Republican, had none.       Elated over the capture of the

"rebel breastworks,"⁹⁴ he slipped away from his Caldwell inkpots

to view the battlefield and ride in triumphal tour with the army,

naming camps after his friends as he went along.⁹⁵            In his

own words:

On Sabbath last, in compliance with a polite invitation from Marshal

Sands, we visited "Camp Hardy"⁹⁶ situated near Hoskinsville. If those

who are eternally prating about "fighting at home" had accompanied us in

93 New York World, March 21, 1863, quoted in Ohio Statesman, March 25, 1863.

94 Noble County Republican, quoted in Zanesville Daily Courier, April 1, 1863.

95 See Watkins, Noble County, 208, for brief sketch of Shaw.

96 Moses's cup was running over.

• 23
 

342      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

our lonely visit down that "valley of the shadow of death," they might have

formed some faint conception of what "fighting at home" means. They

might have feasted their eyes on the dreary looking homes of those who

are now outlaws and refugees from their own firesides. But to resume. We

arrived at "Camp Hardy" about 10 o'clock, A. M., and were at once escorted

to headquarters.--Everything was conducted in the most orderly manner.

Not an oath, nor a loud word did we hear; officers and privates appear-

ing to vie with each other in religiously observing the sanctity of the day.

Rev. Rice, of Monroe county, happening to pass by was invited to preach

and graciously responded in a most beautiful and patriotic discourse which

was listened to by every soldier present with profound attention. With the

exception of a single incident, the breaking into a store by some unruly

stragglers who had followed the soldiers, and who were promptly ordered

to leave as soon as found out, and for which the volunteers are not respon-

sible, everything passed off during their sojourn at "Camp Hardy", to the

entire satisfaction of all parties, citizens and soldiers.  At 1 o'clock the

church and school house which had been tendered by the trustees and used

by the soldiers were vacated, and the line of march for Sharon taken up.⁹⁷

Upon the arrival of Marshall Sands and his little army at Sharon,

they were tendered the use of the Presbyterian Church and College Build-

ing⁹⁸ as their headquarters, which they designated in honor of our old

friend, Mr. James Hopper.99 Here we left them, and returned home, but

have been informed by undoubted authority that during their sojourn in

Sharon, the Charleston of Ohio, their good behavior and courteous deport-

ment was such as command the universal approval of all parties--Unionists

and copperheads.

At an early hour on Monday, "Camp Hopper" was evacuated, and

the line of march taken up for Caldwell. During the short period they

were with us it is scarcely necessary to say that their conduct was, in every

respect, wholly unexceptionable, and in marked contrast with that of our

own citizens a few months ago.100 "Camp Frazier", so termed in honor

of our worthy Prosecuting Attorney101 was vacated on Tuesday morning

and the line of march was again resumed, but this time for Cambridge,

where they will embark for Cincinnati. We but express the sentiments

of every loyal man and woman in Noble County, when we say that the

best wishes and prayers of a grateful people for their present and future

 

97 Sunday, March 22, two days after the troops had occupied Hoskinsville.

98 "Sharon College was started by Rev. Randall Ross [a native of Westmoreland

County, Pa.] in 1852, and for many years was a flourishing school in which the

languages and higher branches of education were taught." Ross, who had been in

charge of the Sharon and Cumberland Associate Reformed churches (afterward

United Presbyterian), enlisted in the 62nd O. V. I. in 1861 and later became chaplain

of the Fifteenth Regiment. "The school has not been in session since 1875."  See

Watkins, Noble County, 372 and 377.

99 There was a blacksmith of that name in Sharon. See Watkins, Noble

County, 377.

100 Just what happened "a few months ago" is not clear. Apparently there is

no record of a noteworthy demonstration earlier than the one at Hoskinsville, ten

days before Shaw's visit. Pertinent, perhaps, is this excerpt from a Noble County

letter signed "Truly yours," appearing in the Crisis, April 15, 1863:

"Some time last spring, Mr. Archer, P. M. at Rochester, in our county, came

here to attend court, and, during his stay, visited The Republican office. He and

Mr. Shaw [the Editor] got into an argument on politics. Shaw got mad and knocked

Archer down stairs. Mr. A. not being a pugilist, civilly withdrew, and Mr. S. now

stands indicted for assault and battery. . . . Mr. Archer a few days since received

notice that the P. 0. was discontinued."

101 W. H. Frazier. See Watkins, Noble County, 176-7; Martin County of

Noble, 122, 183; also Morgan Herald, August 7, 1863.

• 24
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                    343

 

welfare go with them. May God in His mercy bless and protect them

wherever they may be called.102

Because the mission of the soldiers had been one of peace,

Shaw   added, every dollar's worth of what necessity had com-

pelled them to use "was either paid for at the time, or the parties

were furnished with proper vouchers for the same, which will

be paid as soon as they establish their Loyalty to the Govern-

ment."   And then a note of warning, "We caution all evil dis-

posed persons, however, that should it become necessary for the

soldiers again to return to this county, confiscation and desolation

will mark their pathway."103

While in Sharon. the troops took pains to take in tow Wil-

liam Norwood who will be remembered as the newly elected presi-

dent of the Sharon Democratic Club. Young Emmons had seen

Norwood in Hoskinsville, along with Samuel Marquis and Robert

Boggs, on the morning of the 12th, albeit none of them was armed.

Returning by easy stages, the expeditionary force camped

at Point Pleasant104 the first night out of Caldwell and did not

get back to Cambridge until Wednesday, March 25.¹⁰⁵ Mean-

while, the round-up of prisoners had continued with only fair

success. "Squads of soldiers under the guidance of men who

know the county" had been "searching the woods in the daytime

and visiting the houses in the night season in order to make ar-

rests." 106  The  Morgan Herald, rejoicing that the rebellion had

been "so summarily squlched [sic] out," reported most of the in-

surgents had escaped "to Virginia and other localities." 107 The

Wheeling Press reported that "the deserters" had "made their

way out West,"108 which was in truth what a number of the

suspects did. "It seems a little strange, to say the least of it,"

said the Guernsey Times, "that so many men of the same neigh-

borhood should have business away from home at the same

time."109

 

102 Noble County Republican, reprinted in Zanesville Daily Courier, April 1,

1863, and Morgan Herald, April 3, 1863.

103 Ibid.

104 Now Pleasant City.

105 St. Clairsville  Gazette, April 2, 1863.

106 Ohio Statesman, March 24, 1863.

107 Morgan Herald, March 27, 1863.

108 Wheeling Press, quoted in St. Clairsville Gazette, March 26, 1863.

109 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863.

• 25
 

344     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

On Monday the 23rd the Zanesville Daily Courier 110 heard

that some thirty had been arrested, but revised its estimate to

fourteen later in the day, having "seen Judge Okey at the Stacey

House." 111 Considerable chagrin over the "skedaddling" of the

fugitives to "the hills, dens and caves of the earth" 112 was mani-

fest in some newspaper accounts, a few of which predicted dire

punishment for those who had been caught. Ringleaders were

being kept in "close confinement"113 and would be "most severely

dealt with."114 Tertullus Brown was still at large but his father

would be "held as hostage for the son."115 The prisoners were

to be "tried before a military court"116 which would be harsh,

indeed. So the reports and rumors ran. The Guernsey Times

was "confident that the arrests already made, even if there should

not be any more, will have a good effect."117

Anyway, for good or for ill, Marshal Sands and his armed

forces returned to Cincinnati on March 27 with sixteen Noble

County prisoners, who "were marched through the streets to the

Hamilton county jail and locked up."118 Those thus jailed in

lieu of $1,OOO bail per head were:

Samuel Cain                                     Richard C. McFerren

Joshua Hellyer                                                       William Norwood

William McCune                                                   Robert Boggs

Samuel Marquis                                                    Andrew Coyle

Gordon Westcott                                                 Lewis Fisher

William Engle                                 Andrew Brown

Jacob Trimble                                  Charles Brown

William Barnhouse                          Henry Engle119

Despite their inability to raise bail, the defendants did not

lack able legal advisers at their examination, which opened before

Commissioner Halliday on All Fools' Day. As senior counsel

for the defense appeared George Ellis Pugh, former United States

 

110 Issue of March 23, 1863.

111 William C. Okey of Caldwell. See Watkins. Noble County, 178.

112 Noble County Republican, quoted in Zanesville Daily Courier, April 1, 1863.

113 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 25, 1863; Ohio Statesman, March 26, 1863.

114 Zanesville Daily Courier, March 26, 1863.

115 Ibid.

116 Ibid., March 27, 1863.

117 Guernsey Times, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, April 2, 1863.

118 Ohio Statesman, March 29, 1863; McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April

15, 1863.

119 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 28, 1863; McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer,

April 8, 1863. Here again, it is necessary to reconcile discrepancies in the spelling

of certain names.

• 26
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                    345

 

Senator. Associated with him in the case was one identified in

the newspapers as "T. Logan, Esq.," who may have been Thomas

Ackley Logan, a prominent Cincinnati lawyer and an active Demo-

crat.120 Under what law, demanded Logan, were these men

being tried? District Attorney Ball replied that it was under an

act of 1790 providing penalties for those who interfere with the

execution of writs. To this he added that a part of the affidavit

having to do with Tertullus W. Brown's "enticing and abetting

a soldier to desert" came under a law passed in 1812.121 Logan's

motion for a severance and separate examination of the parties

was overruled, and the questioning of witnesses began.

To the stand on the first day went Deputy Marshal Colby,

Corporal Davidson, Marshal Sands, and four Noble Countians

previously introduced in this narrative--Brotton, Crooks, Mc-

Munn and the 15-year-old Emmons. On the second day Baker,

Lukens, Trimmer, Daniels and Henry Willey appeared, along with

two of their neighbors not yet mentioned, Alexander Lyons and

Benjamin L. Lucas. The story they told under oath was the one

that has already been unfolded here, and from this distance one

must admit that much of the testimony was feeble, so far as

pinning guilt on those in custody was concerned.122

Colby admitted under cross-examination that the soldiers ac-

companying him had not been sworn as deputy marshals, and that

he had told no one at the schoolhouse or in the village next day

that he was a deputy United States marshal. Further, he ad-

mitted, "No personal violence was done me."      Lukens had seen

William McCune with a gun on his shoulder, but none of the wit-

nesses could identify any of the other defendants as having been

armed on that fateful day in Hoskinsville. Much that was said

tended to exonerate some of the prisoners completely. One wit-

ness had seen Westcott "going home to haul wood" and another

120 George Ellis Pugh (1822-1876) was to defend Clement L. Vallandigham before

the same court Fater in the year. "A captain in the Mexican War, Pugh became

attorney general of Ohio (1852-1854) and was in the United States Senate from 1855

to 1861. He was drafted as candidate for lieutenant governor on the Vallandigham

ticket in 1863. Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, 1, 446 and 839; Roseboom and

Weisenburger, History of Ohio, 282; Dictionary of American Biography (New York,

1928-1937) XV, 258. Efforts to establish Logan's identity have been unsuccessful.

121 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 8, 1863. Report of Examination,

copied from Cincinnati Enquirer.

122 Ibid., April 2 and April 15, 1863.

• 27
 

346    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

had heard him say he "disapproved of the whole affair." Richard

McFerren had "opposed the affair altogether" and so had William

Engle, who had been on the scene "as a moderator." Trimble

had gone "to the blacksmith shop to get his mattock" but didn't

arrive in Hoskinsville until after the crowd had dispersed. So

the testimony ran.123

At the end of the second day's proceedings, the district at-

torney consented to freeing eight of the prisoners--Charles and

Andrew Brown, Cain, Trimble, Barnhouse, Richard McFerren

and the two Engles.124 "The reason for their discharge was,"

even the Cincinnati Gazette was forced to admit, "that there had

not been the slightest particle of testimony implicating them in

the least." 125

The prosecuting witness, the diligent Hardy, had not yet

arrived, and the Government attorney asked for a continuance.

Pugh objected, declaring he did not believe there was "the slightest

shadow of evidence against a single one now under arrest." Be-

sides, the case should be disposed of at once so the men could go

home "and put in their crops." They had been punished enough

--"the mortification of being paraded through the streets of Cin-

cinnati by an armed force, contrary to the Constitution, and in

defiance of the laws" was an "outrage," and Pugh wanted the

marshal to hear him say it. Hardy had to be heard, however,

and he appeared on the fourth day to tell how narrowly he had

escaped the horse pond.126

The district attorney rested and Pugh moved that the de-

fendants be discharged on the ground that no crime had been

proved to have been committed by anybody. "No person has

resisted any officer," he said. "The party offending against the

United States officer must know that he is an officer, and that he

is about to serve a writ." On the contrary, Colby had "studiously

avoided making known his business." Moreover, the defense

counsel thundered, "What business had the United States Marshal

 

123 Ibid.

124 Ibid., April 15; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April 4, 1863.  The Enquirer says

Cain was re-arrested by the military as a deserter.

125 Gazette, April 4, 1863.

126 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 15, 1863.

• 28
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                 347

 

to take regular soldiers of the army to assist him in the execution

of a civil process? Where is the law for it? . . . Now as to the

military order . . . Colonel Eastman has as much right to issue

part of that order as I have, for Congress, by enactment, has

said when a regular soldier shall be used...  It is very evident

that if Deputy Marshal Colby had gone to Noble County alone,

and there announced his business, and demanded in the name of

the law, such assistance as was necessary, he would have brought

away both the prisoners without difficulty. The people have re-

spect for the law, and regard it as more potent than six regi-

ments." 127

"This case is the tragedy of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet

omitted," Pugh concluded. "To continue this investigation would

be a grievance to the Government and an inconvenience to the

defendants." 128

The district attorney took exception to what had been said

regarding the use of soldiers. It was "a matter of taste," and

he did not believe their assisting the marshal would "vitiate the

proceeding." The soldiers were on a mission of double duty--

that of "assisting the marshal and arresting the deserter, Mc-

Ferren." Besides, the prosecutor contended that Colby had an-

nounced his identity at the schoolhouse, and had told the elder

Brown that he had a warrant. The crowd in front of Racey's

store knew who he was, for they yelled, "Here's your man, come

and take him." 129

"The intention of the gathering was, undoubtedly, to pre-

vent the prisoner130 from  being taken away," Ball continued,

quoting Justice Washington, who had held in U. S. vs. Mowry

that a threat from a crowd having enough strength to execute

threats was in itself "a sufficient obstruction under the law." The

district attorney thought that "a prima facie case had been made

out," and hoped that Pugh's motion for the discharge of the

prisoners would be overruled.131

 

127 Ibid.

128 Ibid.

129 Ibid.

130 Singular, supposedly referring to Tertullus W. Brown, for whom Colby had

the warrant, and excluding John Wesley McFerren from the argument for the

moment.

131 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 15, 1863.

• 29
 

348    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY   Closing for the defense, Logan reviewed the evidence for forty minutes, contending that Colby "had abandoned the pur- suit of the prisoner" on the evening of March II and was on his way back to Cambridge when the crowd asked who he was, and that he had refused to make known his office. The commissioner, however, would not discharge the defendants. At this point, the prosecutor decided that he had no evidence against Wescott and Boggs, and asked that they be freed. This left six out of the original sixteen to be held for the grand jury and their bail was set at $1,000 apiece.132 A second batch of prisoners that had arrived in Cincinnati the same day Hardy did remained to be put through the mill. In this group were:

George Willey Harrison Jones Joel McFerren G. E. Geddes Benton Thorla Richard Burlingame Thomas Racey

William Campbell Joseph McCune James McCune John Racey William Lowe Samuel McFerren 133

After an examination which developed no new evidence,134 Commissioner Halliday held Thorla, Joel McFerren, James Mc- Cune and the two Raceys "in the sum       of $500 each for their appearance before the grand jury now sitting." 135 At this point the Van Wert Examiner fumed, "That 'speck of war' in Noble county turns out to be a monstrous Abolition lie. . . The Cincinnati Gazette reported from      six hundred to one thousand 'Butternuts' in arms against the government. This was to misrepresent the citizens of that county and make political capital." 136 The Crisis had already singled out Hardy as "chief manager of the affair" and presumed that without him "no trouble of any consequence would ever have occurred." 137     The Cincin- nati Enquirer had taken pains to point out that "for people to 132 Ibid. 133 Ibid. Also Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April 10 and April 13, 1863. 134 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April 10, 11 and 13, 1863. 135 Ibid., April 13, 1863. 136 Van Wert Examiner, quoted in McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, April 29, 1863. 137 Crisis. April 8, 1863.

• 30
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                349   assemble is contrary to no law or constitution." It denounced the "air of mystery" created by the deputy marshal, whose con- duct at Hoskinsville seemed "well calculated to excite suspicion and create alarm." 138 The grand jury acted and on April 23, 1863, indictments for obstructing process were filed against the following:

William Archer Mahlon Belford Alexander Bivins John Bond Tertullus W. Brown William Cain Andrew Coyle John Coyle Lewis Fisher Philetus Fowler Stewart Gillespie James Harkins Joshua Hellyer William Lowe Alexander McBride James McCune William McCune Joel McFerren John Wesley McFerren Samuel McFerren

James McGee James McKee Samuel Marquis William Norwood William Pitcher John Racey Peter Racey Thomas Racey James Stewart Andrew J. Stoneking Benton Thorla Absalom Willey Asher Willey Curtis Willey John Willey Marshall Willey Martin Willey Milton Willey Wesley Willey William Willey 139

These indictments were grouped in ten cases, and the court ordered bail set at $1500      for each of the forty defendants.140 The case against James McKee was nolle prossed the following November 141    and   the  others were     carried  over to   the   April term of the court in 1864. On April 9 of that year Thorla, Harkins, Belford, Samuel Marquis, William          McCune, John Wil- ley, Thomas Racey, William Lowe, Joel McFerren and Lewis Fisher changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty and were fined $10 and costs, and sentenced to spend 24 hours in the Hamil- ton County jail. A couple of weeks later Hellyer also changed his plea to guilty and was fined $10 and costs, apparently without   138 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 4, 1863. 139 Criminal Docket, A, United States Circuit Court, Southern District of Ohio, 59-63, cases numbered 88 to 97, inclusive. Also Order Book L, United States Circuit Court, S. D. 0., 496, 502, 503. Some of the names of the indicted are new to this narrative, not having been included in the original complaint sworn by Hardy or named in the newspaper accounts. 140 Order Book, L, 496, 503. 141 Criminal Docket, A, 60. There may have been a mistake in identity. See fn. 76.

• 31
 

350     OHIO ARCHAOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

the jail provision.142  The case against John Racey was abated

by his death and all the others in this series were nolle prossed,

most of them on April 26, 1864.

The grand jury which indicted these men also indicted Ter-

tullus W. Brown for enticing soldiers to desert 143 and returned a

true bill for conspiracy against him and nine others--Curtis

Willey, Samuel McFerren, John Wesley McFerren, John Racey,

Alexander McBride, Benton McKee, Andrew Coyle, Peter Racey,

and James McGee.144 These indictments were filed April 25,

1863, and John Racey and Andrew Coyle were promptly ar-

raigned and put under bond of $2,000 each. At the October

term, a writ issued by the court was returned with the indorse-

ment, "I arrested the within named Sam'l McFerren and took

him before the Probate Judge of Noble Co. a Comr of this

Court & said McFerren gave bail and was discharged. Not

found as to other defts." The three who had been apprehended

went on trial in November, 1863,145 and the press reported the

outcome:

 

The jury, who have been fourteen days investigating the charge of

conspiracy against Samuel M'Ferrin [sic], John Racey and Andrew Coyle,

in the United States Circuit Court, at Cincinnati, on Tuesday morning,

Dec. 1, brought in a verdict of guilty on the 1st and 2d counts of the in-

dictment.

The indictment is based on an act of Congress of July, 1861, in which

there are two counts. The first states in substance that a warrant has

been issued by Commisioner Hallida [sic] for the arrest of Tertulius [sic]

Brown, on the charge of having unlawfully enticed John Wesley McFerrin

a private soldier, to desert the United States service. It is said that this

warrant was placed in the hands of Samuel Colby, a Deputy Marshal, for

execution, and that the defendants did, on the 12th day of March, 1863,

wickedly devise, and by force of arms oppose, the authority of the United

States, by hindering and opposing the execution of the act of Congress.

The second count states that on the 4th of March, 1863, a military order

was issued by Lieutenant Colonel Eastman, directing Corporal Davidson

to arrest John Wesley McFerrin as a deserter, and detaching four privates

to arrest him, and directing him to co operate with the Marshal in making

his arrest. That on the 12th of March Corporal Davidson attempted to

execute said order, but the defendants, by force, attempted to hinder the

execution of the law of the United States, by seizing certain muskets and

opposing said Davidson and the soldiers under his command, and that they

did then and there conspire to prevent the execution of said order.146

142 Ibid., 59-63.

143 Ibid., 67, Case No. 105; Order Book, L, 519.

144 Criminal Docket, A, 66, Case No. 102; Order Book, L, 495.

145 Ibid.

146 Ohio Statesman, quoted in McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, December

16, 1863.

• 32
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                  351

 

On December 4 the three convicted men went before Judge

Humphrey Howe Leavitt147 to be sentenced. Their motion for

a new trial was denied, and the court was "not aware of any

sufficient reason for overruling the finding of the jury." De-

claring the penalty of the law is "always a painful duty," the

judge observed, but "peace and good order, and the security and

preservation of the social and civil rights of the citizen, can only

be maintained by the just execution of laws." Moreover, "no

one is justified in setting up his private opinion of the policy or

expediency of a law as a ground for the forcible resistance of

its execution." Aggravating the offense in this instance was "the

fact of a conspiracy by a number of individuals." And certainly

their guilt was in no way lessened by the fact that "the resistance

which was the object of the conspiracy" had a bearing upon

"the great struggle in which this country is engaged, for the life

and maintenance of the Government." 148

There was, however, the "pleasing duty" of noting "some

considerations, which though they do not exonerate you . . .

are such as to some extent will mitigate the judgment." One

consideration was that the statute under which they offended had

been passed but a short time before, "and its provisions were not

generally known." Besides, this "was the first, and perhaps the

only attempt at an organized resistance of the National authorities

within this district, in connection with the measures of the Govern-

ment in carrying on the war." The prosecution had rebuked

the "evil example" and the verdict had vindicated the law, and

the court desired to exclude "suspicion of vindictiveness on the

part of the Government."    "Upon the whole, after full reflec-

tion," the Court concluded, "I shall adjudge the defendants

McFerren and Coyle to pay each a fine of $500 and costs. The

defendant Racey is more guilty than the others,¹⁴⁹ and it is my

duty to make a discrimination against him. He is adjudged to

 

147 Judge Leavitt was born in Suffield, Connecticut, 1796; died in Spring-

field, Ohio, 1873; appointed to Federal bench by Andrew Jackson in 1834. See Howe,

Historical Collections of Ohio, 1, 978-979.

148 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, December 5. 1863.

149 Whether because of the liquor he had provided is not stated.

• 33
 

352     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

pay a fine of $1,000, and stand committed until the fine and

his proportion of the costs are paid." 150

A few days later Harrison Jones was fined $50 and costs

for contempt of court "in refusing and neglecting to appear in

the Noble County conspiracy cases." 151 With that the prosecu-

tion passed rather swiftly into oblivion, for only a few in south-

eastern Ohio today remember vaguely that there was "some kind

of a draft riot" at Hoskinsville in the 'sixties. The defendants

remaining at large were not arrested, and on February 6, 1866,

the words "Nolle Prossequi" were appended to the record of the

conspiracy case.152 The proceeding against Tertullus Brown on

the charge of enticing soldiers to desert had been similarly ter-

minated the preceding June.153

Tertullus, who was reported to have escaped to Canada,

never returned to Noble County.154 Identified in several accounts

as a teacher, and in one instance as a "prominent citizen," 155

Brown was remembered in the late 'eighties by a nameless but

"reputable" resident of Noble Township who said Tertullus was

"not a school teacher, but a pupil." 156 That his youth had some-

thing to do with the indignation over the proceedings against

him is indicated by a correspondent of the McConnelsville En-

quirer who wrote, "Hardy, Abolition like, is considered very

officious in procuring the arrest of young Brown who is only

17 years old." 157

John Wesley McFerren returned to Hoskinsville after the

war, and lived out his days as a Noble County taxpayer.158 At

this distance there appears at least the shadow of a doubt whether

he was actually a deserter. The Crisis contended at the time

that McFerren had been captured while on scouting duty and

 

150 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, December 5, 1863; Criminal Docket, A, 66.

151 Ibid., December 9, 1863.

152 Criminal Docket, A, 66.

153 Ibid., 67.

154 Martin, County of Noble, 92.

155 Cincinnati Commercial, quoted in Toledo Blade, March 17, 1863.

156 Watkins, Noble County, 277.

157 McConnelsville Weekly Enquirer, May 6, 1863. Reference has already been

made to the Census of 1860, which gives Tertullus' age as 16. The census-taker

spelled his name "Tertulius." The spelling followed here is that used in the Federal

court records.

158 Martin, County of Noble, 92; also Wall, Mann & Hall, Atlas of Noble County,

38: "J. W. McFerren, Hoskinsville, farmer. 39 acres."

• 34
 

HOSKINSVILLE REBELLION                            353

 

paroled to his home from the South.159 Such paroles were com-

mon enough in the early days of the war, both sides enforcing

the prisoner's oath not to take up arms again.¹⁶⁰ Parole violators

who were recaptured were summarily shot,¹⁶¹ and if Wesley

actually was a parolee, that would account for his reluctance to

take the field again.

If the weight of evidence indicates correctly that Wesley

had not received Tertullus' letter or been influenced by it,162 and

if Wesley did believe that he was legitimately out of the service,¹⁶³

then the attitude of the citizens in front of Racey's store is less

difficult to understand. Even if these things were not true but

the people of Hoskinsville mistakenly believed them at the time,

it is easy to see how the appearance of the corporal's squad would

outrage them. A community known for its law-abiding char-

acter 164 would hardly put itself in a position of defiance to law

without provocation. While regetting any action that ran athwart

Administration's purpose of preserving the Union, one may at this

distance applaud zeal in behalf of civil rights.

Made possible by the hysteria of the times, the episode was

at least a symptom of widespread disapproval of the Emancipa-

tion Proclamation and the manner in which the war was being

conducted. It was difficult for some communities to adjust them-

selves to the fact that yesterday's extremist fringe was now

definitely in the saddle. The air was filled with intemperate utter-

ance, and the Crisis counseled wisely when it said, "By care

 

159 Crisis, April 1, 1863.

160 J. F. Lukens, one of the government's witnesses in the Hoskinsville proceed-

ings, was probably the beneficiary of such a parole, having been taken prisoner at

Harper's Ferry. (See Watkins, Noble County, 432.) Most of, if not all, the Union

soldiers captured at Harper's Ferry were paroled by Stonewall Jackson.

161 The unpublished Diary of Jason E. Downing, a soldier in the 87th Ohio,

who was captured at Harper's Ferry, contains this under date of September 17, 1862:

"¹⁰ Secesh was shot here [near Frederick] today that had took the oath & been

recaptured." The diary is now in the possession of C. E. Downing of Detroit.

162 The Cincinnati Daily Gazette agrees with the anti-administration papers on

this point. See fn. 7.

163 It is barely possible that some significance may be attached to Deputy

Marshal Colby's recollection of the remark, 'We defy anybody or any authority to

take the prisoner away from here." Was the word "prisoner" being applied to

McFerren as a prisoner of war?    The space for "Remarks" is left blank after

McFerren's name in the Official Roster, VI, 382. Inquiry in Washington reveals that

he never applied for and never drew a pension.

164 On his visit to Noble County in the 80's, Henry Howe was moved to observe,

"The morals of the county are exceptionally good. There is very little crime, not

a case of murder has occurred, and but two of manslaughter in its history and the

jailer's office is largely a sinecure; three quarters of the time the jail is without a

tenant." See Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, II, 353.

• 35
 

354      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

and a little complacency on both sides much trouble may be

avoided." 165   Fortunately, the election of 1863 left no doubt as

to Ohio's stand. Noble County gave Brough 2058 to Vallandig-

ham's 1686,166 and the hates which smouldered for a time died

down with the years.

Two more notations complete the story:

Moses D. Hardy, whose actions so enraged his neighbors,

gave of his own flesh and blood for the cause he championed.

His 20-year-old son, Lucius, died June 28, 1864, in Anderson-

ville prison.167 Hardy himself figured no more in public life.

John Wesley McFerren died October 30, 1909, and was

buried in the church yard at Hoskinsville, where a little G. A. R.

flag flutters over his grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

165 Crisis, April 1, 1863. The following items from the Marietta Register of

October 24, 1862, speak for themselves:

"We learn that at some of the polls in Noble Co., at the late election, men

gave a 'Hurrah for Jeff Davis!' "

"One of the drafted men from Noble County, at the Mansion House in this

city the other night, flourished a pistol about, much to the alarm of the ladies in

the house. He was a first-class Democrat and, having been out in town, he returned

just 'high' enough to 'Hurrah for Jeff Davis!'"

166 Ohio Statesman, October 31, 1863.

167 Tombstone at Hoskinsville; also Watkins, Noble County, 254.

• 36