COLUMBIA, Mo.,
Tuesday, February 25, 1862.
The commission proceeded to the trial of Edmund J. Ellis, a
citizen of Boone County, Mo., who being called into court had the above order*
read in his hearing and was asked if he objected to be tried by any member
named in detail, to which he replied in the negative.
The commission was then duly sworn in the presence of the
accused and the judge-advocate duly sworn by the president also in the presence
of the accused.
The prisoner was then arraigned on the following charges and
specifications:
CHARGE 1: The publication of information for the benefit of
the enemy and encouraging resistance to the Government and laws of the United
States,
Specification 1. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State of
Missouri, called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J.
Ellis was editor and proprietor on the 15th day of November, A.D. 1861, the
said Edmund J. Ellis permitted and caused to be printed and published an
article, entitled “Letters from Our Army,” design and object of which
publication was to encourage and further rebellion against the existing
Government of the United States.
Specification 2. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia county of Boone and State of
Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said
Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 15th
day of November, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and
caused to be printed and published an article entitled “To the Civil Officers
of Boone County,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was
designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the
United States.
Specification 3. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of
Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which ]paper the said
Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 22d
day of November, A, D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and
caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Root, Abe, or
Die,” which said article was designed and intended to encourage resistance to
the Government and laws of the United States.
Specification 4. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of
Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said
Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 13th
day of December, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and
caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “The U. S. Flag —
Rebellion,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed
and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United
States.
Specification 5. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of
Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard, of which paper the said
Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 3d
day of January, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and
caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Carrier's
Address,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and
intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.
Specification 6. — In this, that in a public
newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of
Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said
Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 7th
day of February, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and
caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “News from
General Price,” the design and object of which article was to give information
to the enemies of the Government and to encourage resistance to the Government
and laws of the United States.
CHARGE 2: Violation of the laws of war by the publication
within the lines of the troops of the United States in a public newspaper of
articles and information intended and designed to comfort the enemy and incite
persons to rebellion against the Government of the United States.
Specification 1. — In this, that in a public
newspaper printed and published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State
of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which said
newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was the editor and proprietor, the said
Edmund J. Ellis on the 29th day of November, 1861, at Columbia did publish and
cause to be published a certain treasonable and seditious communication, viz, a
letter addressed to the people of Kentucky and signed by J. C. Breckinridge, by
which publication the said Edmund J. Ellis designed and intended to comfort the
enemy and incite to rebellion against the Government of the United States
persons within the lines of the troops of the United States.
Specification 2. — In this, that the said Edmund J.
Ellis did print and publish and cause to be printed and published and
circulated within the lines of the United States a certain pamphlet styled “To
the Patriot Army of Missouri,” which pamphlet was calculated and designed to
give aid to the enemy and to encourage and incite to acts of insurrection the
people living within these said lines of troops; which pamphlet is hereto
appended and marked. All this at or near Columbia, Mo., on or about the first
day of October, 1861.
Specification 3. — That in a public newspaper printed
and published in the town of Columbia, Boone County, Mo., known and styled as
The Boone County Standard of which said newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was
the editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis did on the 6th day of
December, 1861, at Columbia publish and cause to be published certain articles,
viz, a treasonable and seditious article styled “Proclamation to the people of
Central and North Missouri” and signed “Sterling Price, major-general
commanding,” and a certain other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Convention
between the State of Missouri and the Government of the Confederate States,”
and signed “E. C. Cabell, Thomas L. Snead and R. M. T. Hunter,” also a certain
other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Message of President
Jefferson Davis to the Congress of the Confederate States” and signed “Jefferson
Davis, Richmond, November 18, 1861.” All of which articles were published with
the intent and design of giving comfort to the enemy and of inciting to
rebellion against the Government of the United States persons within the lines
of the troops of the United States.
To which several charges and specifications the accused
interposed his plea to the jurisdiction of the court as follows, viz:
The accused, Edmund J. Ellis, objects and excepts to the
jurisdiction of the court or military commission on all the matters and things
stated in the two charges and the various specifications thereunder on the
grounds following, viz: That the matters and things therein stated and charged
(admitting them to be true, the truth of which, however, he controverts) are
wholly and exclusively of civil cognizance.
Second. Because there is no supervision of the arm of civil
power, no obstruction to judicial process and hence no sudden and extraordinary
necessity (so far as the present case is concerned) for the intervention of a
summary military commission or any military authority whatever.
Third. Because the matters and things stated in the said
charges and specifications if criminal at all are violations of the
Constitution and civil law of the land for the punishment of which tribunals of
justice are provided, military commissions being unknown to the Constitution
and laws of the United States.
Whereupon the court having been cleared proceeded to
consider said plea and after mature deliberation overruled the said plea.
Whereupon the court having been again opened and the
decision announced to the prisoner the prisoner pleaded as follows, viz:
To the specifications, not guilty, and to the charges, not
guilty.
The court then adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10 o'clock Wednesday
morning, February 26, 1862.
LEWIS MERRILL,
Colonel Regiment
Merrill's Horse, President Military Commission.
ROBERT A. HOWARD,
First Lieutenant,
Merrill's Horse, Recorder Military Commission.
_______________
* Special Orders, No. 160, p. 448, convening and making
detail for the commission.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume
1 (Serial No. 114), p. 453-5
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