Battlefield Dispatches No. 224: 'Thieves, Robbers & Pirates of the Border'

In any war, almost always, there is a struggle between Civilian and Martial (Military) Law with respect to the area of jurisdiction and the prosecution of offenders who violated the law.

Such was the case in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas in July of 1863. Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr. was the "Union" commander of the District of the Border that included Leavenworth City and County, Kansas and he simply had had enough civilian meddling and interference with the execution of his orders. So, he declared the said county and city to be under "Martial Law." This of course infuriated the Mayor of Leavenworth City, one D.R. Anthony, who stated his unhappiness in the form of a rebuttal to General Ewing. Mayor Anthony also happened to be the brother of Susan B. Anthony (a bit of unrelated trivia).

General Ewing was also an attorney at law who practiced his profession in the Kansas Territory before the Civil War and could turn a phrase and words with the pen as is evidenced in the following correspondence. He is also the same "Union" Brigadier General who was and still is hated by the citizens of Jackson, Cass, Bates and Northern Vemon County, Mo., for issuing the now infamous Order No. 11 that depopulated the said counties and created a "No Mans Land" as a buffer zone to keep the Kansans, Jayhawkers and Redlegs in Kansas and the Missourians and Bushwhackers in Missouri.

All of the following documents are located on Pages 388-391, Series I, Vol. 22, Part II Correspondence in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.

"Headquarters District of the Border,

Kansas City, Mo., July 22, 1863.

Lieut. Col. C. W. Marsh,

Assistant Adjt. Gen., Dept. of the Missouri, St. Louis:

Sir: Enclosed find a copy of order proclaiming martial law in Leavenworth County and a copy of the letter from me to the mayor of Leavenworth [City] stating (very mildly) the circumstances inducing the order. I became perfectly satisfied that I could not get along with the mayor, who was bent on "running the machine" as he expressed it, in his own way and with the purpose of controlling arrests and seizures for robbery in Leavenworth. The order is entirely acceptable to a large majority of the people who are attending honest callings. I will watch the occasion when I may revoke it, but doubt if I can do so until April next, when the PRESENT MAYOR GOES OUT OF OFFICE!

I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS EWING, Jr,

Brigadier General.'

(Enclosures)

"Hdqrs. District of the Border,

Kansas City, Mo., July 19, 1863.

Special Orders,

No. 31.

VI. Martial Law is proclaimed throughout Leavenworth County, Kansas.

VII. Capt. Lewis D. Joy, eleventh Kansas Volunteers, is appointed Assistant Provost-Marshall for Leavenworth County, Kansas.

By order of Brigadier General Ewing.

JOHN WILLIAMS

Captain & Assistant Adjutant General."

"Leavenworth, Kansas, July 20, 1863.

D. R. Anthony,

Mayor, Leavenworth City, Kansas:

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday and take pleasure in answering your inquiry. Leavenworth, which is the center of trade for the Missouri Valley, is from that fact the market for a large part of the STOCK STOLEN on the BORDER and the resort [safe haven / sanctuary] of many of the THIEVES & ROBBERS infesting [living in large numbers]. Often when a successful expedition for PLUNDER is made into MISSOURI or the INTERIOR OF KANSAS, the ROBBERS seek here a place of concealment for themselves and a ready market for their [STOLEN] STOCK, which they could not as surely find in other less populous & flourishing towns of Kansas or Western Missouri.

To arrest & punish by MILITARY AUTHORITY those who commit these depredations in that part of my district in which the civil power is inefficient, is clearly my duty & also to arrest for punishment residents of this district who are engaged in committing acts of robbery in the District of Northern Missouri. It is more immediately my duty than that of yourself or any other civil officer in Kansas, for I may punish for such offenses committed in Missouri, while civil authorities here cannot for want of jurisdiction.

In the charge of this duty I have employed detectives, with orders to make ARRESTS of THIEVES & SEIZURES of STOLEN PROPERTY in this COUNTY! I have been informed, on authority I regard as reliable, that one of these officers was recently ordered by you, as mayor, to turn over to your policemen some horses stolen in Missouri & seized here by him, including one horse the property of the [U.S.] Government; & on his refusal to do so, you arrested him for breach of the peace & released him only on condition that he thenceforth should cease to take stolen stock, even though it belonged to the Government, until after the question as to title had been determined by the courts, as above stated & that one of these officers was sued in an action of replevin, by a claimant of the United States horse, above referred to. At the hearing of which action, on the 18th instant, you appeared as counsel for the plaintiff and judgment was rendered for $50 against this officer for executing my orders.

I have no personal knowledge of the truth of all or any part of these statements, but am informed that they will be proved, if you wish the truth. But whether these statements are true or not, as to YOUR INTERFERENCE as mayor to INTERRUPT the EXECUTION OF MY ORDERS, I am well satisfied that many of the holders of and dealers in STOLEN STOCK in this city have intended to resort to the courts to retake property seized under military orders & involve in litigation officers seizing it; thus greatly embarrassing, if not preventing, the execution of my orders for such arrests & seizures here.

To enable me to prevent this INTERFERENCE and NOT as YOU seem to suppose, to preserve the peace of the city, I have DECLARED MARTIAL LAW in Leavenworth County. The city is peaceful and orderly, but the border is distracted & property there insecure & I must have the ROBBERS with their PLUNDER FOLLOWED into and ARRESTED in this CITY, if I am to restore quiet & security to the border. I will not abate or surrender my military jurisdiction, which extends to both ARRESTS & PUNISHMENTS, in favor of a civil jurisdiction extending only to arrests; nor allow any town in my district to become a refuge within whose precincts the PIRATES of the BORDER may escape the swift process of martial law!

I will carefully leave the State, county and city authorities free and uninterrupted in the execution of the laws and ordinances, except so far as in such execution they materially interfere with the discharge of my duties as district commander and will promptly revoke the proclamation of martial law whenever the necessity for it is no longer apparent to me.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS EWING, Jr.,

Brigadier General."

Now then, how did Mayor Anthony react and respond to General Ewing's letter? If his long bombastic reply is any indication, he was very annoyed and angry. However, he did close his letter, which is too long to include here, with the following question. "Will you revoke your order?" The order declaring Martial Law was not revoked so General Ewing's answer was "No" and of course the War Went On!