A Confederate in Congress: The Civil War Treason Trial of Benjamin Gwinn Harris

by Joshua E. Kastenberg

Overview

In May 1865, the final month of the Civil War, the U.S. Army arrested and prosecuted a sitting congressman in a military trial in the border state of Maryland, though the federal criminal courts in the state were functioning. Convicted of aiding and abetting paroled Confederate soldiers, Benjamin Gwinn Harris of Maryland's Fifth Congressional District was imprisoned and barred from holding public office.

Harris was a firebrand--effectively a Confederate serving in Congress--and had long advocated the constitutionality of slavery and the right of states to secede from the Union. This first-ever book-length analysis of the unusual trial examines the prevailing opinions in Southern Maryland and in the War Department regarding slavery, treason and the Constitution's guarantee of property rights and freedom of speech.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476664897
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	10/28/2016
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joshua E. Kastenberg is an active duty officer in the United States Air Force with more than twenty years of service. He is assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Corps as a military judge. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Introduction 4

1 The Origins of a Maryland Secessionist 17

2 Harris and Secession, 1861-1863 40

3 Congress and the War 63

4 "A damning speech" the Roots of a Trial 84

5 The Democratic Part)' Convention of 1864 106

6 The Military Prosecution of a Congressman 125

7 Aftermath of the Trial, 1865-1892 147

Conclusion 166

Chapter Notes 171

Bibliography 187

Index 197