Martial Law

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker and editor of the forthcoming Military Thinker.

Martial Law

Article I, Section 8, Clause 15 of the US Constitution states:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; . . .

The states as well as Congress may prescribe penalties for failure to obey the President’s call of the militia. They also have a concurrent power to aid the National Government by calls under their own authority, and in emergencies may use the militia to put down armed insurrection.¹ The Federal Government may call out the militia in case of civil war; its authority to suppress rebellion is found in the power to suppress insurrection and to carry on war.

Last weekend we had thousands of people here visiting the lake. I have a question. How many of those people were democrats, and how many were republicans? Don’t know? Me neither.

That is why you cannot have limited martial law. Martial law must be applied to everyone. Liberal and conservative, black, white, Hispanic, rich, poor, young, old, everyone.

That is the very problem Lincoln had imposing martial law during the Civil War. How do you tell Union folks from confederate folks? You can’t, so everyone must suffer. That is exactly what happened here in Missouri between 1861 and 1865.

Let me tell you a story.

On August 30, 1861 General John Freemont declared martial law In Missouri and set up his HQ in Jefferson City. He was staying in the Dulle House by the old St. Mary’s hospital. Why there?

Because under martial law, the military becomes judge jury and executioner.

He and his men simply walked up to the door of the Dulle home and told Mr. Dulle they had 24 hours to get out. The Dulle’s had no recourse. All local law enforcement and civil courts had been suspended and replaced with a military tribunal.

Bear in mind, they never asked Mr. Dulle if he was Union or Confederate. They just wanted his house for Union headquarters and took it.

So, what is martial law?

 Well, the first thing that you need to know is that the U.S. Constitution is “suspended”.

In other words, you would suddenly have no rights at all.

There would be no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom of assembly and you could be arrested at any time for any reason whatsoever.

For the duration of the “emergency”, the military would be in control.  There would be troops in the streets, a curfew would almost certainly be imposed, and armed checkpoints would be set up.

If the “emergency” lasted long enough, we would probably see authorities go house to house confiscating firearms, ammunition, and food supplies.

And perhaps most troubling of all, “dissidents” and “subversives” would likely be rounded up and imprisoned. Again, how do you tell? (conservative or liberal?)

Now I know what you are going to say. That could never happen here.

Well, unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to your ancestors here in Missouri during the Civil War.

For all the skeptics out there, let me give you the facts.

Let’s start with General Order # 32  issued by Union General Halleck Dec. 21 1861.

Anyone caught in the act of sabotage will be immediately shot. No quarter, no trial.

Now a lot of Missourians wanted nothing to do with the war. We were a slave state, but voted 135,000 to 17,000 to stay in the Union.

Truth is, less than 1% of our population owned slaves. Our issue was state’s rights. We simply wanted the Federal government to stay out of our business. Sound familiar?

So, most Missourians just wanted to remain neutral and be left alone to work their farms.

Well, that quickly ceased to be an option when Union General John Schofield issued General Order #19 :

“every able bodied man capable of bearing arms and subject to military duty is hereby ordered to repair without delay to the nearest military post and report for duty. The order went on to say that its purpose was to exterminate the guerrillas that infest our state.

Now let’s look at that one. Applied to the current situation, does that mean that the military could come in and tell me I must fight for Biden? If not, I am a traitor? This works both ways folks.

Let’s say Biden enacts martial law, and Trump wins again in 2024, taking office while we are still under martial law. Now he becomes commander in chief over the military.

He could then use martial law to demand that every able bodied man must now join the military and fight for Trump.

See why I am scared of it? Martial law is a terrifying tool.

So, lets proceed. You can no longer be neutral. You must join the military. This makes it easy to see who is with you, and who is against you.

Wearing a uniform, with us. Not wearing a uniform, a traitor. Simple.

Another clause of General Order #19 stated that to arm the military, The Union forces had the right to seize all guns.

This offered an excellent excuse for Union forces to enter private homes and take what they wanted. Can you say illegal search and seizure?

Shortly thereafter, on August 12, 1862, General Schofield issued General Order #9 which stated that while the Union army was in the field, they could help themselves to any supplies they needed from any citizens they felt were not loyal to the union.

Who determined loyalty? You guessed it, the military. Again, how do you tell? Union or Confederate? Today, Republican or Democrat?

This brings us to what was known as the Palmyra Massacre in Palmyra, Missouri on October 18, 1862.

Ten Confederate prisoners of war were executed in retaliation for the abduction of a local Union supporter, Andrew Alsman. The officer who ordered the execution, Colonel John McNeil, was later known as the “Butcher of Palmyra”.

Col. John McNeil commanded the Union’s 2nd Missouri State Militia in Palmyra.  (yes, as a divided state, we had both Union and Confederate Militias). Also stationed in Palmyra was the Provost Marshal General for Northeast Missouri, Col. William Strachan, military commander for the whole area.

One of Strachan’s local informants was 60-year-old Andrew Allsman.

Col. McNeil published a notice in the Palmyra Courier demanding the confederate guerrillas return Allsman unharmed to his family within 10 days.

If they failed to do so, 10 of the men jailed at Hannibal and Palmyra would be shot. Bear in mind, these ten men were citizens deemed traitors by the military. No trial, no jury. No habeas corpus under martial law. When the 10 days passed with no word from Porter, McNeil directed Provost Marshal Strachan to compile a list of 10 prisoners to face a firing squad. The execution was scheduled for Oct. 18.

Shortly past noon on Saturday, Oct. 18, three government wagons arrived at the Palmyra jail. One carried four rough wooden coffins and the other two carried three each.

The prisoners were led out of the jail and each man was seated on a coffin. The wagons were taken to the amphitheater of the fairgrounds, where the coffins were unloaded and placed in a row with the lids removed. About a hundred spectators gathered.

After a prayer by a local Baptist minister, the 10 men sat on the foot of their coffins about 30 feet from the firing squad.

Shortly after 1 p.m. the baptist minister gave each man a final handshake, followed by Strachan.

Maj. Isham Dodson, in charge of the firing squad, called them to attention and gave the orders: “ready, aim—thus perish all traitors to their country’s flag—Fire!”

The bodies were placed in the coffins and the lids nailed shut. The wagons took the coffins back to the town square to be claimed by relatives.

Col. McNeil left Palmyra before the executions and went to St. Louis to give a newspaper interview explaining his actions. The interview was published in several newspapers, and the executions were condemned in the New York Times and a number of international newspapers.

To stop the criticism and show his support for McNeil, Col. Lewis Merrill, commander of the Union District of Northeast Missouri, relieved Strachan as Provost Marshal General, claiming the position was no longer necessary. Col. McNeil was then promoted to brigadier general of volunteers.

Now just about the time you think that things can’t get any worse, along comes Brigadier General Thomas Ewing , Commander of Union forces in the western half of Missouri.

He decided that the guerillas couldn’t be defeated as long as the citizens kept helping them, so he now went after the citizens of Missouri.

Again, how do you tell if someone is Union or Confederate? Or today if someone is conservative or liberal?

You all know the answer. When you yourself are risking death by being labeled, the smart thing to do is cooperate with the military by pointing out the traitors in the community.

This happened throughout the war. Bear in mind, no jury, no trial. Just the word of your neighbor.

Great way to get rid of that noisy neighbor and his kids!

So back to General Ewing. He can’t seem to root out all the rebels in Missouri, so what did he do?

He started by arresting and imprisoning the wives, moms, and sisters of the rebels. They were rounded up and put in makeshift jails in KC.

Gen Ewing soon realized he didn’t have enough jail space for all of them so he now proposed the removal of all rebel families from Missouri.

On August 14, 1863 an old building on Grand avenue in KC, being used as a prison, collapsed killing the wives and sisters of many William Clark Quantrill’s men. (the now famous Confederate Guerrilla of Missouri)

On the same day the prison collapsed, General Ewing issued General Order # 10 stating “ The wives and children of known guerrillas and also women who are heads of families and are willfully engaged in aiding guerrillas will be notified by such officers to remove out of this district and out of the state of Missouri forthwith.”

This was the final straw for Quantrill and his men. They now mounted up and headed for Lawrence Kansas and conducted the now famous sack of Lawrence on August 21, 1863.

All the male citizens of Lawrence were killed and the town was burned to the ground.

In response, General Thomas Ewing now issued General Order # 11. On August 25, 1863 which called for:

The forced removal of all Missouri citizens in Jackson, Bates, Cass, and ½ of Vernon county.

You have 15 days to get out or you will be shot.

Did you catch that? ALL MISSOURI CITIZENS! Didn’t matter if you were union or not. Your husband could be fighting for the Union and you still lost everything. Again, no recourse. Military is judge, jury, and executioner.

For hundreds of miles every home, barn and structure was then burned to the ground and all the fields set afire. For years after the war, these 4 counties were known as the burnt district.

Again, you as a citizen had no recourse, no compensation, just pack your stuff up and get out. What about our right to private property? Forget it. The Constitution has been suspended.

Bear in mind, General Order #23 had been established back in December 1862 to implement martial law. It created a Provost Martial General in St. Louis, and District Provost Marshalls throughout the state.

Provost Marshall had complete authority to arrest and imprison people at their will. They alone became judge, jury, and executioner and answered to no court.

Provost Marshalls now also came up with a system of loyalty oaths. You had to swear an oath of loyalty to the Union and post $1000 bond.

Can you imagine having to swear an oath of loyalty to Trump or Biden at the risk of losing everything and being thrown in jail? That is martial law folks.

Don’t have the money? No problem, we will take the deed to your home and hold it as bond.

Now it is simply the Provost Mashall’s word vs. yours if you are loyal to the union and you could lose everything.

In April 1863 The KC Journal stated that the Provost Marshall held bonds totaling over 27 million dollars. (roughly $558 million in today’s dollars)

If you didn’t take the oath, you were arrested and imprisoned.

If you broke the oath, you were shot.

Remember, no jury trial, no representation.

Some entire towns vanished because everyone was arrested.

In June of 1863 General Schofield issued general orders stating that for every union soldier killed, $5000 would be assessed and collected from the people living in the community where the death occurred.

Opposition to the union cause by utterance or through the press was forbidden between 1861and 1865. Orders were sent out that all newspapers had to be sent to the military for inspection prior to publication and all newspaper editors were to take an iron clad oath of loyalty to the US. Think the press is bad now?

On Sept 17, 1863 General Schofield issued General Order # 96 that basically stated that it was against the law to incite rebellion through published materials and if you are found guilty of doing so, it was punishable by fine and imprisonment and the paper will be shut down.

So, between 1861 and 1865 in Missouri, we saw the federal government impose martial law, establish military commissions, arrest and imprison people at will, seize their property and their guns, banish people from the state and eliminate the people’s right to free speech.

Did it work? Of course not. It simply poured more fuel on the fire.

There is no limited martial law. It is all or nothing, so tread lightly when you call for it.

By the way, did you once hear me mention the word slavery?

For Missouri it was all about state’s rights and a federal government out of control. Our current federal government has become too powerful folks, regardless of who serves as president.

We need to return to the system created by our founding fathers as stated in the 10th amendment to the Constitution, ” Powers not granted to the Federal Government in the Constitution belong to the states or the people.

So, I know what you are thinking. It could never happen here. Well, believe it or not, Martial Law has been declared in the US 68 times according to The Brennan Center for Justice.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/guide-declarations-martial-law-united-states

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War or Invasion

General Andrew Jack­son declared martial law before the Battle of New Orleans, 1814.

Covered Area: New Orleans, Lous­i­ana
State or Federal: Federal
Dura­tion: Decem­ber 12, 1814 – March 13, 1815 (3 months)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812

Notes: This was the first declar­a­tion of martial law in U.S. history.

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Pres­id­ent Frank­lin Roosevelt approved the declar­a­tion of martial law in Hawaii after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 1941.

Covered Area: Hawaii Territ­ory
State or Federal: Federal
Dura­tion: Decem­ber 7, 1941 – Octo­ber 24, 1944 (2 years, 10 months, 17 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. J. B. Poin­dex­ter and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short (declar­a­tion approved by Pres. Frank­lin Roosevelt)

Gov. Brigham Young declared martial law during the Utah War, 1857.

Covered Area: Utah Territ­ory
State or Federal: See notes 
Dura­tion: Septem­ber 15, 1857 – June 12, 1858 (9 months)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Utah War

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. Brigham Young

Notes: Although Governor Young declared martial law under color of his author­ity as the territ­orial governor, he did so in order to facil­it­ate armed resist­ance to approach­ing federal troops. Hostil­it­ies in Utah ended on June 12, 1858, when Young accep­ted Pres­id­ent James Buchanan’s pardon and was removed from power.

Gen. John C. Fremont declares martial law in Missouri in response to the Camp Jack­son Affair and a Confed­er­ate insur­gency, 1861.

Covered Area: Missouri
State or Federal: Federal 
Dura­tion: August 30, 1861 (August 14, 1861 in St. Louis only) – March 17, 1865 (4 years)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Camp Jack­son Affair and ongo­ing Confed­er­ate insur­gency during the U.S. Civil War

Notes: U.S. Army Gen. John C. Fremont declared martial law in St. Louis on August 14, 1861, and then through­out Missouri on August 30. Fremont was soon relieved of command for insub­or­din­a­tion. His successor, Gen. Henry W. Halleck, believed that Fremont had lacked the author­ity to declare martial law, and he refused to enforce it until he received writ­ten author­iz­a­tion to do so from Pres­id­ent Abra­ham Lincoln in Decem­ber 1861.

Pres. Abra­ham Lincoln declares martial law during the U.S. Civil War, 1862.

Covered Area: United States
State or Federal: Federal 
Dura­tion: Septem­ber 24, 1862 – August 20, 1866 (4 years)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: U.S. Civil War

Declar­ing Author­ity: Pres. Abra­ham Lincoln

Notes: Rather than declar­ing martial law over a partic­u­lar area, Proclam­a­tion 94 applied martial law to “all rebels and insur­gents, their aiders and abet­tors, within the United States, and all persons discour­aging volun­teer enlist­ments, resist­ing mili­tia draft or guilty of any disloyal prac­tice afford­ing aid and comfort to rebels against the author­ity of the United States.”

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Gen. Charles Barrett declares martial law in response to the Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot, 1921.

Covered Area: Tulsa, Oklahoma
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: June 1, 1921 – June 4, 1921 (4 days)

Texas Gov. Dan Moody declares martial law in response to the Sher­man riot of 1930.

Covered Area: Sher­man, Texas
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: May 10, 1930 – May 24, 1930 (14 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Sher­man riot of 1930

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. Dan Moody

Acting Texas Gov. A. M. Aikin Jr. declares martial law in response to the Beau­mont race riot of 1943.

Covered Area: Beau­mont, Texas
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: June 15, 1943 – June 20, 1943 (5 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Beau­mont race riot of 1943

Declar­ing Author­ity: Acting Gov. A. M. Aikin Jr.
Termin­at­ing Author­ity: Acting Gov. A. M. Aikin Jr.

Mary­land Gov. J. Millard Tawes declares martial law in response to the Cambridge riot of 1963.

Covered Area: Cambridge, Mary­land
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: June 14, 1963 – July 8, 1964 (1 year, 1 month)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Cambridge riot of 1963

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. J. Millard Tawes

Labor Dispute

Pennsylvania Gov. John Fred­er­ick Hartranft declares martial law during the Scranton general strike, 1877.

Covered Area: Scranton, Pennsylvania
State or Federal: State 

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Scranton general strike

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. John Fred­er­ick Hartranft

Idaho Gov. N. B. Willey declares martial law during a viol­ent struggle between mine oper­at­ors and miners in and around Coeur D’Alene, 1892.

Covered Area: Shos­hone County, Idaho
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: July 11, 1892 – Novem­ber 18, 1892 (4.5 months)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Viol­ent struggle between mine oper­at­ors and miners in and around Coeur D’Alene, Idaho

Pennsylvania Gov. Robert E. Pattison declares martial law during the Homestead strike, 1892.

Covered Area: Homestead, Pennsylvania
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: July 12, 1892 – Unclear

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Homestead strike

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. Robert E. Pattison

Minnesota Gov. Orville L. Free­man declares martial law in Free­born County in response to a meat-pack­ing work­ers strike, 1959.

Covered Area: Free­born County, Minnesota
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: Decem­ber 11, 1959 – Decem­ber 22, 1959 (11 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Meat-pack­ing work­ers strike in Albert Lea, Minnesota

Declar­ing Author­ity: Gov. Orville L. Free­man

Natural Disaster

Mayor R. B. Mason declares martial law after the Great Chicago Fire, 1871.

Covered Area: Chicago, Illinois
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: Octo­ber 11, 1871 – Octo­ber 23, 1871 (13 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Great Chicago Fire

Declar­ing Author­ity: Mayor R. B. Mason

Mayor Walter C. Jones declares martial law after the Great Galve­ston hurricane, 1900.

Covered Area: Galve­ston, Texas
State or Federal: State 
Dura­tion: Septem­ber 11, 1900 – Septem­ber 21, 1900 (8–9 days)

Precip­it­at­ing Event: Great Galve­ston hurricaneDeclar­ing Author­ity: Mayor Walter C. Jones