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and untried law in this country, and which had not been distinctly settled anywhere else.
The case was this :--
There was a body of quasi-secessionists in Indiana and the adjoining States known as the Knights of the Golden Circle.
Milligan was a member of that body and there was an. accusation made against him of being a party to a conspiracy to release the Confederate prisoners of war from Johnson's Island and send them.
back to the assistance of the enemy.1
Milligan was tried by a military commission, duly convened The commission heard the case in due form.
and advised his punishment.
Being held in prison to await the result of that proceeding, a writ of habeas corpus was brought in his favor.
to have him released, and in due course of the law it came before the Supreme Court of the United States.
It was alleged in the charges that Indiana was, at the time of the acts set forth, the theatre of war in time of war and that the State was held by military forces of the United States which were guarding it against these transactions and had military control of the State.
It was further alleged that Milligan was not a soldier of the United States and was, therefore, within the jurisdiction of these military forces and amenable for his military offences to the action of the military commission.
This was the first time that the action of a military commission had come directly before the Supreme Court.
Every step in the proceedings was contested by the learned counsel who appeared for Milligan, the Hon. Jere S. Black, the Hon. David W. Field, and General Garfield, the latter of whom was brought into the case to give it some tinge of loyalty, and other counsel.
The cause of the United States was sustained by the court in every point but one, and that was, as the Circuit Court of the United States was open in Indiana, that therefore, Milligan had a right to be tried before the circuit court, There was no allegation in the pleadings that the circuit court was open.
But the court said that it would take judicial notice of that, and that in consequence of its being open the case was not within the jurisdiction of the military authorities for trial.
While, of course,
1 This conspiracy has been most ably treated by Gen. John A. Logan in his work, “The great conspiracy,” showing its vast extent and importance. He was one of the ablest and most successful volunteer generals, and a most loyal Democrat, and he afterwards entered the United States Senate--as a Republican.
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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