2024 'Talks' at McHenry County CWRT-- Part 2: 'Rank Discord'

JULY 9:  And Then He Was a Lion:  Major General James Steedman

AUGUST 13:  Meade at Gettysburg  (Impersonation)--  David Eisele

SEPTEMBER 10:  Rank Discord--  Rob Girardi

OCTOBER 8:  George Custer, His Rebel Buddy, Harpers Ferry & John Yates Beall--  Don Hatch

NOVEMBER 12:  Loose Lips: "Military Intelligence in the Civil War"--  Bruce Allardice

DECEMBER 10:  Partisan Warfare in 1862 Kentucky   (ZOOM only)--   Derrick Lindow

So, there you have it.  One year of Civil War stuff from your friendly local McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table's Prisons Discussion 3/27/21-- Part 4: Talking About Camp Douglas Today and John Yates Beall

**  There is a Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation that has a primary mission "To provide  active leadership in the development,  delivery, and preservation of  educational and  historic information regarding  the Upper Midwest, especially Illinois and Chicago during the Civil War."

**  And then there was an interesting character by the name of John Yates Beall, who led attacks on Union shipping on the Chesapeake Bay, was captured, released, then was involved in a scheme to release Confederate officers at the prison on Johnson's Island on Lake Erie.  That failed.  But then was captured trying to derail a train near Buffalo, New York.

Jailed again, and after a questionable trial and Abraham Lincoln declining to extend leniency, was hanged at Fort Columbus on Governor's Island in New York Harbor.

**  Abraham Lincoln and Sec. of War Edwin Stanton once visited Point Lookout in Maryland to view Union black soldiers.

**  One of the people at the meeting said he had an ancestor die at the Confederate prison at Danville, Va.

**  Libby Prison was in an old tobacco warehouse.  Prisoners there experienced horrible conditions.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets This Saturday: Civil War Special Forces

The discussion group of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table will meet this Saturday at Panera Bread at 6000 Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  We'll meet at 10 a.m. to noon.

The topic this month is Civil War Special Forces like scouts, spies and sharpshooters.

I plan on talking about John Yates Beall and James Duke as I have written a lot about the first one in this blog and my Civil War Navy blog.

Everyone is welcome, even non-members.  All you need is an interest in history.  (We do not always stay on topic and often get side-tracked.)

Come On Down!!  --Old Secesh

John Beall's Hangman's Noose-- Part 4: Gordon Found Guilty, Sentenced to Hang

Of the 897 slaves,  172 were grown men and 162 were women.  The rest were children, preferred by Gordon because they were too young to rise up against him for his cruelties.

The Erie was captured by the USS Mohican on August 8, 1860.  The slaves were taken to Liberia, the American colony established in West Africa by the American Colonization Society.  It was a settlement of free Blacks from the United States.

Nathaniel Gordon was taken to New York City to stand trial for slave trading and piracy.  After one hung jury, he was found guilty November 9, 1861, and  sentenced to death by hanging on February 7, 1962.

After his sentence was announced, his supporters appealed to President Lincoln for a pardon.  Lincoln was known for his compassion and issued many pardons during his presidency, he refused to grant one to Gordon, even refusing to meet with his supporters.

What Lincoln Said Next.  --Old Secesh

John Beall's Hangman's Noose-- Part 3: Nathaniel Gordon

From Wikipedia.

NATHANIEL GORDON

One of the four people hanged using the noose that ended John Yates Beall's life.

February 6, 1826 to February 21, 1862

Was the only slave trader in the United States to be tried, convicted and executed "for being engaged in the Slave Trade," under the Piracy Law of 1820.

Gordon was born in Portland, Maine, and went into shipping and eventually owned his own ship, the Erie.

On August 7, 1860, he loaded 897 slaves aboard his ship, the Erie,  at Shark's Point, Congo River, West Africa.

--Old Secesh

John Beall's Hanging Noose-- Part 2: The Others

The other three men hanged with the same noose as used for John Yates Beall's execution:'

Nathaniel Gordon  referred to as a pirate and slave trader.

Albert W. Hicks referred to as the last person executed for piracy in the United States.

William Henry Hawkins for the murder on the high seas as Captain Adams.

I found articles in Wikipedia for the first two men.

--Old Secesh

About Beall's Noose-- Part 1: It Was Used to Hang Three Others

On October 22 I wrote about the noose used in John Yates Beall's hanging was the same one used to hang the slave trader GORDON, HICKS and the Negro HAWKINS for murder on the high seas.

Who were these people?

I had to look into it further.

See What I Found.  --Old Secesh

The Charges Against Beall

From the February 25, 1865, New York Times.

CHARGE 1--    "VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OF WAR"

Specification 1:  Seizure of steamboat Philo Parsons near Kelley's Island, Lake Erie. September 19, 1854.

Spec. 2--  Seized and sank  steamboat Ocean Queen near Middle Bass Island, Sep. 19, 1864.

Spec. 3--  Found acting as a spy near Kelley's Island, Sep. 19, 1863.

Spec. 4--  Found acting as a spy near Middle Bass Island, Sep. 19, 1863.

Spec. 5--  Found acting as a spy near the Suspension Bridge, New York, Dec. 10, 1864.

Spec. 6--  Undertook "to carry on irregular and unlawful warfare, as a guerrilla, and in the execution of said undertaking, attempted to destroy the lives and property of peaceable  and unoffending inhabitants of said State and of persons therein traveling, by throwing a train of cars and passengers in said cars from the railroad track, on the railroad between Dunkirk and Buffalo, by placing obstructions across said track" on December 15, 1864.

--Old Secesh

The Gallows At Fort Columbus Where Beall Was Hanged

From the February 25, 1865, New York Times.

"The gallows, the same used at the execution of GORDON, the slave trader, is not built with a drop, but furnished with weights and pulleys, by means of which the condemned man is jerked into the air with a sudden motion which instantly dislocates the vertebrae of the neck.

"Around one of the uprights, an inclosure of rough boards is erected, and the weights and pulleys, as well as the executioner, are thus concealed from view.  The noose is separate from the main end, and is provided with an iron ring, which hooks on to the gallow's rope.

"This horrible instrument of death was erected on the southerly slope of the island, facing southeast."

"The noose is the same one used to hang HICKS, the pirate GORDON, the slave trader, and the negro HAWKINS, who was executed for murder on the high seas."

Confederate Major General W.H.C. Whiting of Fort Fisher was at this fort at this time. I have to wonder what he thought of all this.

A More Humane Gallows?  --Old Secesh

The N.Y. Times Reports Beall's Death-- Part 2: The Gallows

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION.

Beall's Personal Appearance.

The Death March.

 Under the Gallows.

The Executions.

His Last Words.

Death.

--Old Secesh

The New York Times Reports Beall's Execution-- Part 1

From the February 25, 1865, New York Times.

""MILITARY EXECUTION:  Execution of John Y. Beall, the Lake Erie  Pirate and Rebel Spy.

Details of the Crime, the Trial, and the Punishment of the Culprit.

His Conduct During His Last Hours.

The Antecedents of Beall.

His Arrest and Trial.  His Trial.  A Temporary Respite.

MILITARY EXECUTION.

His Last Hours.    The Morning of the Execution.  The Gallows.

--Old Secesh

John Beall's Last Letter to His Brother-- Part 2: "I Die For My Country"

Remember me kindly to my friends.  Say to them I am not aware of committing any crime against society.  I die for my country.  No thirst for blood or lucre animated me in my course.  For I had refused when solicited to engage in enterprises which I deemed destructive but illegitimate, and but a few months ago I had but to have spoken, and I would have been red with blood, and rich with the plunder of the foe.

But my hands are clear of blood, unless it be spilt in conflict and not a cent enriches my pocket.

Should you be spared through this strife, stay with mother, and be a comfort in her old age.   Endure the hardships of the campaign as a man.  In my trunk and box you can get  plenty of clothes.

Give my love to mother, the girls, too.  May God bless you all now and evermore, is my prayer and wish for you.

John Y. Beall

--Old Secesh

John Y. Beall's Final Letter to Brother William: "But Only Crime Can Make Dishonor"

From "Lincoln, Beall & the Gallows" by Jim Surkamp.

Written from his cell while awaiting his execution.

Fort Lafayette, Fen. 14, 1865
 Dear Will:

Ere this reaches you, you will most likely have heard of my death through the newspapers, that I was tried by a military commission, and hung by the enemy, and hung,  I assert, unjustly.  It is both useless and wrong to repine over the past.

Hanging, it was asserted, was ignominious, but crime only can make dishonor.  'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I shall repay,' therefore do not show unkindness to the prisoners -- they are helpless."

More.  --Old Secesh

John Nicolay's Thoughts on the Beall Case-- Part 3: Lincoln Would Not Yield

"Loath as Mr. Lincoln was at all times to approve a capital sentence, he felt in this case he would not permit himself to yield  to the promptings of his kindly heart.

"He sent a private message to General Dix, saying he would be glad if he would allow Beall  a respite of a few days to prepare himself for death, but positively declines to interfere with the sentence, and Beall was hung in the latter part of February."

Nicolay Diary.

--Old Secesh

John Nicolay's Thoughts on the Case of John Y. Beall-- Part 2: "Spy, Guerrillero, Outlaw and Would-Be Murderer"

"Mr. Jefferson Davis took the same view of the talismanic  character of the Confederate commission upon which Beall had relied, and issued a manifesto assuming responsibility of the act and declaring that it was done by his authority.  There was great clamor in regards to the case, and many people of all parties pleaded with Mr. Lincoln to commute the sentence of Beall.

"A petition in the cause was signed by most of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives and by many Republicans.

"But the Judge Advocate General reported that Beall, convicted upon indubitable  proof as a spy, guerrillero, outlaw and would-be murderer of hundreds of innocent persons traveling in supposed security upon one of our great thoroughfares, fully deserved to die the felon's death, and summary enforcement of  that  penalty was a duty the government owed society."

Summing It Up.  --Old Secesh

Illinois' Orville Hickman Browning-- Part 1: A Man of Strong Connections

Earlier this week I wrote about this man pleaing to Lincoln to commute the death sentence of John Yates Beall.  I'd never heard of him, but it seemed as if he was on a friendly relationship with the president so went to good ol. Wikipedia for a background on him.

1806-1881

An attorney in Illinois and a politician active in the Whig and Republican parties.  Also a U.S. senator during the Civil War and Secretary of the  Interior after the war.

Born in Kentucky and trained as a lawyer  Settled in Illinois, served in the militia during the Black Hawk War.  Successful attorney and active in politics as a Whig.  Served in the Illinois General Assembly.  Joined the Republican Party after the Whigs broke up and helped organize the new party in Illinois.

In 1861, he was appointed to  fill the Senate seat of Stephen A. Douglas after his death.

No Wonder He Had Access to Lincoln.  --Old Secesh

John George Nicolay's Thoughts On the Beall Case-- Part 1

From the "Lincoln, Beall & the Gallows" By Jim Surkamp in Civil War Scholar site.

John Nicolay was one of Lincoln's two private secretaries.

John Y. Beall was captured: "in the state of New York near the Suspension Bridge in an attempt to throw a passenger train from the West off the track for the purpose of robbing the express company.  This was the third attempt which he had made to accomplish this purpose.

"He was in citizen's dress, engaged in an act of simple murder and robbery., yet he imagined that the fact that he had a Confederate commission in his pocket would secure him against punishment in case of capture.

He was tried by court martial and sentenced to death."

--Old Secesh

Pleaing for John Yates Beall's Clemency-- Part 2: Change Death Sentence To Imprisonment

"This is brief time for preparation for so solemn and appalling an event.  The friends of Capt. Beall desire to appeal to your clemency for a commutation of the sentence from death to imprisonment and that they might have the opportunity to prepare and present to your consideration the reasons which they hope may induce to a commutation.

"They now beseech you to grant the unhappy man such respite as you may deem reasonable  and just under circumstances.  As a short respite is all that is asked for now and as that can in no event harm, I forebear at present to make  any other suggestion.  Most respectfully your friend.

O.H. Browning"

--Old Secesh

Pleaing for Clemency of John Yates Beall-- Part 1: O.H. Browning

From "Lincoln, Beall and the Gallows" by Jim Surkamp.

O.H. Browning, a powerful member of the Republican party and from Illinois appealed to Lincoln to save Beall.

"Washington, D.C., Feb. 17, 1865.
The President:

Captain  John Y. Beall has been tried by court martial in New York, found guilty and sentenced to be hung as a spy and guerrilla.

The sentence was approved by Major General Dix on the 14th Feb'y,  and directed to be carried  into execution tomorrow the 18th."

--Old Secesh

The Trial of John Yates Beall

Same source as last two posts.

**  Major Bolles, Judge Advocate of the Military Commission.

"There was nothing of Christian civilization and nothing of regular warfare in Beall's operations."

**  From General John A. Dix."The Proceedings, finding and sentence are approved and the accused John Y. Beall will be hanged by the neck till he is dead, on Governors Island, on Friday the 24th day of February, 1865.  --  General Orders No. 17, February 21, 1865.  Case of J.Y. Beall."

--Old Secesh