Knights of the Golden Circle Series
Dr. John W. Stone (1837-1909) Modern-Day Doctor and Preacher. Also, Traitor to the Union.
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by Carolyn Ann Howard
On 21 Oct 1864, a military commission convened in Indianapolis, Indiana, having charged several Hoosier men of treason to the United States. Dr. John W. Stone was not one of the five, but he was quite involved in the antics that caused the trial. The trial is known as ex parte Milligan.
Dr. Stone was, however, arrested much later in 1888 for a murder he allegedly helped to commit in Martin County, Indiana. This murder occurred in 1864.
I learned of John W. Stone through my research of The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). One of my main characters in Pioneer Stories, Albert Qualkinbush, was part of this secret society and participated in the above stated murder of his neighbor, Jackson Ballard. Ballard was home on leave from the Union Army and was looking to arrest a deserter, Allen Anderson. He would never have a chance to do so, for he himself was murdered in cold blood - allegedly by members of the KGC - before he could find Anderson. On a side note, Anderson would never be found as he had fled to Canada.
Dr. John W. Stone was born around 1841 in Lexington, Kentucky. This is according to the Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929. The reason I give the source of this information is that Ancestry will have you all over the board as far as John W. Stone. To be fair, this man WAS all over the board anyway. But be sure to check and double check your information on Ancestry. It's so easy for their algorithms to pull you in! Especially with a common name such as John Stone.
On the 1850 census, Stone was living with his parents in Spencer County, Kentucky. His father was listed as a chair maker. By 1860, Dr. Stone had married Susan McKinney, and their eldest was born in 1860 in Brownstown, Indiana.
Stone's father, who ended up in Lost River Township, Martin County, Indiana, was in Floyds Knobs, Indiana at the time of the 1860 census. By 1870, he was settled in Martin County, Indiana.
In the 1870 census, Dr. Stone and his family were in Van Buren, Indiana, and he was listed as a Teamster. See what I mean by all over the board? By 1880, he was situated in White County, Illinois, listed as a physician and a surgeon. This was where he settled.
What was this KGC, and what were their goals? Simply put, their oath was to the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, and they were on the side of the Confederacy, even though their residences were in the Union. Their larger goal, however, was a bit more sinister. The scheme that only the higher-ups knew about was to build a brand-new country, in the shape of a circle, with Havana, Cuba as its capitol. Other lands to be annexed for this new country were parts of the United States, Mexico, and Central America. Slavery would be legal, and their aim was to corner the markets in cotton, sugar, tobacco and coffee. Click on photos to enlarge
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| The military commission that presided over ex parte Milligan Public Domain via Wikipedia |
Whatever the frame of mind of the KGC's Martin County members, John Stone must have been a man full of charisma, for he was the one fueling the enthusiasm for the KGC in the Martin County area. We may, however, take clues from Wesley Tranter, a former Knight, who testified on behalf of the U.S. government in the treason trials in Indianapolis:
[Mr. Horsey] came to me and said they were getting up a concern; he did not state what it was, but it was something in defense of the country -- but he didn't tell me exactly what it was at first, or the name of it. I joined it, and they called it the Circle of Honor.
When the KGC was ready to put their plan into place, the first goal was to "put [Indiana] Governor [Oliver] Morton out of the way." According to Tranter, this referred to the assassination of the governor. The men in southern Indiana's KGC were to make a rush on the capitol of Indianapolis, "take the place, wear out the soldiers, and release the [Confederate] prisoners." On the same day, according to "The Treason Trials of Indianapolis," attacks would also be made in St. Louis, Missouri; Springfield, Illinois; and Washington D.C. When Tranter was asked by the Judge Advocate who was responsible for making these plans, he answered, "John W. Stone."
John W. Stone was not only a physician, he was also a pastor. We know little about his practice or his ministry. According to The Daviess County Democrat, March 10, 1888:
[Stone] was afterwards silenced from preaching, on account of not practicing what he preached, and a rumor was reported at the time that he had killed a Union soldier. He still practiced medicine, when sober."
Of course, this is hearsay.
On Ancestry, John W. Stone, looks like most everyone else, reduced to documentation. But by using other sources, we can find out more about people like Dr. Stone, such as newspaper articles and, in this case, government transcripts about a trial for treason! Although Dr. Stone was not one of the defendants in ex parte Milligan, he certainly played a huge role in the crimes.
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| So eloquently stated |
The men on trial for treason in the case called ex parte Milligan were found guilty of treason by the military court and sentenced to hang. Andrew Johnson, after Lincoln's assassination, commuted the sentences to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court took up the case, stating that President Abraham Lincoln had overstepped his presidential powers in dealing with dissenters. Because the civilians were tried in a military court, they threw the case out. In so doing, they protected future civilians from being tried in military courts. The prisoners were then released, now free but broken. Dr. Stone escaped this mess, even though he had been a large part of the scheme.
In the latter trial, the one held in Martin County, Indiana, Dr. John W. Stone was found not guilty of the murder of Jackson Ballard.
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The Trials for Treason at Indianapolis: Disclosing the Plans for Establishing a North-Western Confederacy. Being the Official Record of the Trials Before the Military Commission.... (1865). United States: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin.
The Trials for Treason at Indianapolis - Google Books
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