CIVIL WAR 1864 COURT MARTIAL OF UNION OFFICER FOR RAPE OF BLACK WOMAN
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:202817 |
Original Civil War imprint, 3-1/2 pgs., approx. 5" x 8", datelined "Head Quarters Department of Virginia and North Carolina, In The Field, July 9th, 1864", being General Orders No. 79, giving the findings of a Court Martial held at the Head Quarters of Brig. Gen. A.V. Kautz, Chief of Cavalry, of 3 soldiers. The first was of a Private Preston L. Bennett, Co. D., 1st District of Columbia Cavalry, for plundering a lady's dress from Scott's Store at Black and White Station, Southside Railr...oad, Va., while his regiment was on the march. He pled guilty, and was sentenced to be confined to hard labor for one month. The second was of Private Robert Bell, Co. C., 1st District of Columbia Cavalry, charged with letting a Confederate prisoner escape. He was found not guilty. The most significant was the 3rd Court Martial, that of Lt. Andrew J. Smith, Co. K., 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and Acting Assistant Inspector General, 2d Brigade, Kautz's Division, 18th Army Corps, charged with raping "one Jennie Green, a colored woman", who he enticed into his quarters, locked the door and "by force violate her person and otherwise abuse her, and did continue to do so until the attention of persons outside of the room was attracted by her cries, when the door was burst open, and he hurriedly made his escape. He was found guilty and sentenced to be dismissed from the service of the United States and confined to hard labor for ten years. Of special interest is the Commanding General's comments following the findings and sentence, who felt the sentence was too light, noting that a Black man was recently hung for an attempted rape of a white woman: "The Commanding General has examined the evidence in this case with much care, and with an anxious desire to find some means to escape the conclusion that an officer of the United States army could be guilty of so heinous a crime. A female negro child quits slavery, and comes into the protection of the Federal Government, and upon first reaching the limits of the Federal lines receives the brutal treatment from an officer, himself a husband and a father, of violation of her person. Of this the evidence is conclusive. But a day or two since, a negro man was hung, in the presence of the army, for the attempted violation of the person of a white woman. Equal and exact justice would have taken this officer's life, but imprisonment in the Penitentiary for a long term of years, his loss of rank and position - if that imprisonment be without hope or possibility of pardon, as it should be - would be almost an equal example..."A scarce Civil War "in the field" imprint, on a seldom seen subject. Minor wear at top edge of first page. Fine-Very Fine.COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS
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