New York Times 30 December 2001 WORD FOR WORD
American Gothic: 'Terrorists' and Tribunals in the Civil War Era By MARK BULIK THE nation was at war, and the government feared that a network of immigrant terrorists was planning havoc on the home front. It suspended civil justice and rounded up people for questioning. A handful were tried by a military commission. In this case, though, the immigrants were Irish-Catholic coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania, and the network was the Molly Maguires. The Mollies, also known as the Buckshots, were a product of the Civil War. Irish mine workers, overwhelmingly Democratic and wretchedly poor, saw in the war an opportunity to strike for higher wages. The Republicans supervising the draft had close ties to the coal industry, and saw in conscription a way to banish Democrats and labor agitators. As the mine workers fought back, using the name of a mythical Irish rebel, the Navy's supply of coal was threatened. On Nov. 5, 1863, a mine official, George K. Smith, was killed because he helped soldiers enforce the draft. The ensuing arrests and trials by military commission are detailed in War Department correspondence in the National Archives. And while it is not clear that the tribunals being created by the Bush administration will try domestic detainees, the Pennsylvania case underlines the perils of balancing civil liberties and national security on the scales of military justice. * E. H. Rausch, a deputy provost marshal in Carbon County, described the group behind the trouble in a Nov. 16, 1863, letter: An organization exists throughout the Middle Coal Field, of Irishmen, known as "Buckshots," for the avowed purpose of resisting the draft. . . . Mr. G. K. Smith, being suspected of giving me certain information as to the domicile of drafted men, was murdered in the most brutal murder, in his home and in presence of his family. The "Buckshots" are all armed, and frequently meet in secret places, two or three times weekly. Gen. Darius Couch of the Union army proposed a military solution: I have just returned from the disaffected mining region of Hazleton and vicinity - having during the visit met and conversed with several of the coal operators and others interested in the affairs of the region. Some of the collieries were stopped last week for the avowed purpose of compelling the general government to relieve the mining regions from the operations of the draft. However the prompt arrival of the troops ordered by Major General Sigel restored matters to their previous status - the mines are in operation but the loyal people there live in a state of terror, several brutal murders having been committed within a few weeks. The operators whom I saw proposed this - that if they could be assured of the protection of the general government until the work was accomplished, they would discharge the bad characters and employ new men, having eventually a body of men that could be controlled. It is supposed that it would take take three months to carry out these desired reforms. If commenced the troops must not be withdrawn until the work is thoroughly done, otherwise two-thirds of the anthracite region would stop sending coal to market. Mr. Rausch described the roundups: About 45 "Buckshots" have been arrested in the vicinity of Yorktown and they are now in charge of Major General Sigel at Reading. They expect to make more arrests of notorious characters, and expel all evil-disposed men from the region. General Couch quickly saw a conflict between national security and civil liberties: The subject is one of exceeding delicacy. The state is utterly powerless in the execution of the 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. * When one detainee, a British subject, appealed to the British ambassador in Washington, General Couch cut to the real issue, cheap coal: If O'Donnell obtains his release, 44 others will ask for the same, no doubt. The interests of the country will not permit these men to go back to the mines at present. Life is safe there now: The operators are controlling their mines instead of a gang of cowardly ruffians, traitors and murderers; coal is being produced more surely and as stated to me more plentifully, the price of which will probably steadily decrease until it reaches the proper point. The arrests, which eventually totaled about 70, were the easy part. The head of the military commission that began trying the men in January, Col. Henry O. Ryerson, soon discovered how hard it would be to prove charges of disloyalty and resisting conscription: The judge advocate informs me, since the commencement of the trial, there are but two against whom any evidence can be brought. He also informs me of the whole number now confined in Fort Mifflin that there are but three or four against whom he has any evidence, with the exception of those who are implicated in the murder of George K. Smith, whom this commission cannot try . . . From my own observations since the commencement of this investigation, I am satisfied that in the outset a great many arrests were injudiciously made. Colonel Ryerson faced a quandary: If all these men are tried and acquitted, as they must be if there is no evidence against them, it will be considered a triumph of the opponents of the government and the effect of their being permitted to return to their houses after a fair trial and acquittal for the want of proof against them will be very bad upon the community. If sufficient evidence cannot be produced to convict them, in my judgment if will be far more injurious to the interests of the government to have them tried and acquitted than to release them without a trial under certain conditions . . . that they take the oath of allegiance and enter a solemn pledge to conduct themselves hereafter as good and loyal citizens. Charges against most of the accused were dropped. Yet despite the holes in many of the remaining cases, the tribunal convicted 13 detainees, who spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp. In the end, the tribunal failed to quell the strikes and draft resistance, as evidenced by a report from Pottsville after the trials: The detachment of cavalry in Carbon County while out serving notice on the drafted men were fired upon by about 18 bushwhackers, but no one was hurt. It was in the mountains and the party could not be arrested. . . . All the railroads and coal mines have been stopped from operations by the miners and the railroad men. Since the first of this month they have struck for higher wages. They will not allow the mines to be worked nor the railroads to be used. There has not been a pound of coal shipped from this region since the first of the month. The Molly Maguire troubles raged on for more than a decade after the war ended. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/weekinreview/30WORD.html> -- Yoshie * Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>
