President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and proclaimed martial law in Kentucky. Lincoln contended that Kentuckians were joining or aiding the “forces of the insurgents.” Civil processes were permitted to continue “which did not affect the military operations or the constituted authorities of the Government of the United States.”
A state election under Federal military supervision was scheduled for August 1. This was to serve as a test for how other states would vote this fall. In preparation for the election, Major-General William T. Sherman, commanding the Federal military division that included Kentucky, advised Governor Thomas E. Bramlette to “arrest every man in the country who was dangerous to it.” Sherman wrote:
“The fact is in our country personal liberty has been so well secured that public safety is lost sight of in our laws and institutions; and the fact is we are thrown back one hundred years in civilization, laws, and every thing else, and will go right straight to anarchy and the devil, if some body don’t arrest our downward progress. We, the military, must do it, and we have right and law on our side… Under this law everybody can be made to stay at home and mind his or her own business, and, if they won’t do that, can be sent away.”
President Lincoln permitted Brevet Major-General Stephen Burbridge, the unpopular commander of the District of Kentucky, to suppress anti-Lincoln dissidents throughout the Department of Kentucky. Burbridge issued a proclamation on the 16th:
“Rebel sympathizers living within five miles of any scene of outrage committed by armed men, not recognized as public enemies by the rules and usages of war, will be arrested and sent beyond the limits of the United States.
“In accordance with instructions from the major-general commanding the military district of the Mississippi, so much of the property of rebel sympathizers as may be necessary to indemnify the Government or loyal citizens for losses incurred by the acts of such lawless men, will be seized and appropriated for this purpose.
“Whenever an unarmed Union citizen is murdered, four guerillas will be selected from the prisoners in the hands of the military authorities, and publicly shot to death in the most convenient place near the scene of the outrage.”
Burbridge arrested prominent Democrats for “disloyalty,” which effectively removed them from the upcoming ballot and ensured Republican victory. He issued an order to all county sheriffs: “You will not allow the name of Alvin Duvall to appear upon the poll-books as a candidate for office at the coming election.” Duvall was a candidate for a district judgeship on the High Court of Appeals. Another name was submitted to replace Duvall on the ballot, with the election just two days away. Other Kentuckians were banished from the state without charges or trial, while the state government could do nothing to prevent it.
Bibliography
- Davis, Jefferson, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government: All Volumes. Heraklion Press, Kindle Edition 2013, 1889.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Kindle Edition, 2011.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Pollard, Edward A., Southern History of the War (facsimile of the 1866 edition). New York: Fairfax Press, 1990.
- Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964.