Summary:
In this November, 1863, dispatch, Union General Darius Couch, commanding the
Department of the Susquehanna at Chambersburg, writes General Franz Sigel
concerning draft resisters in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. Couch
discusses the problem of state versus military jurisdiction over detained
resisters, and the possibility of charging them with a crime.
Maj.-Gen. FRANZ SIGEL,
Cmdg. Lehigh District:
Chambersburg, Pa.,
November 14, 1863.
GEN.:
I telegraphed you this morning that Capt. Roach, deputy provost-marshal, should furnish the charges against those men arrested in Hazelton region. I so told him the morning of the day we met at Reading.
He was informed that the United States could not try men for offenses that were exclusively State ones. But if any of the party, or all, had conspired to resist the draft, or harbored deserters, or-resisted the military forces in the execution of their lawful duty regarding the draft, undoubtedly they could be tried by military courts.
The subject is one of exceeding delicacy. The State is utterly powerless in the execution of her laws in the mining region, and we must be very cautious about substituting military law for civil. However, the loyal, good people in that region are desirous of having martial law declared, and would bless you if you would hang 100 men a day for a week. One thing is clear, that these men who have been arrested against whom no charges can be preferred, should not at present be set at liberty.
Have you examined the acts of Congress, Articles of War, &c., in reference to your powers as to appointing a military commission? I confess to you that I am not able to decide, nor have been able to get an opinion on the subject. Gen. Cadwalader some time since ordered a general court-martial, but his authority came directly from the War Department. If we meet at Gettysburg, as I think we shall, perhaps more light can be gathered on the subject.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 29, Serial No. 49, Pages 455, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
