Andrew Humphreys

{{Short description|American politician}} {{For|the United States Army officer|Andrew A. Humphreys}}  {{Infobox officeholder | name = Andrew Humphreys | image = Andrew Humphreys (Indiana Congressman).jpg | office1 = Member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd congressional district | predecessor1 = James D. Williams | successor1 = Thomas R. Cobb | term_start1 = December 5, 1876 | term_end1 = March 3, 1877 | office2 = Member of the Indiana Senate | term2 = 1896-1900 1878-1882 1874-1876 | office3 = Member of the Indiana House of Representatives | term3 = 1857 1849-1852 | birth_date = {{birth date|1821|3|30}} | birth_place = near Knoxville, Tennessee | death_date = {{death date and age|1904|6|14|1821|3|30}} | death_place = Linton, Indiana | resting_place = Moss Cemetery Linton, Indiana | party = Democrat | other_party = | spouse = | children = | alma_mater = | profession = Politician farmer | signature = | signature_alt = }}

'''Andrew Humphreys''' (March 30, 1821 – June 14, 1904) was a U.S. representative from Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana, who served in the Forty-fourth Congress. Prior to the American Civil War, Humphreys was as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives (1849 to 1852, and January 8 to March 9, 1857), and an Indian agent for Utah. In 1864 Humphreys was a defendant in a controversial trial by a military commission that convened on October 21 at Indianapolis, where he and three others were convicted of treason. Humphreys was sentenced to hard labor for the remainder of the war, but the sentence was modified three weeks later to allow for his release (Humphreys was required to remain within two specific townships in Greene County, and could not participate in any acts that opposed the war). At the end of the war, Humphreys resumed a career in politics, which included terms in Forty-fourth Congress (December 5, 1876 to March 3, 1877) and the Indiana Senate (1874 to 1876, 1878 to 1882, and 1896 to 1900).

==Early life== Born near Knoxville, Tennessee, Humphreys moved with his parents to Owen County, Indiana, in 1829. Afterwards, the family relocated to Putnam County, near Manhattan, where Humphreys attended the common schools. He moved to Greene County in 1842.<ref name=CongBio>{{cite web | title =HUMPHREYS, Andrew (1821–1904) | work =Biographical Directory of the United States Congress | publisher =United States Congress | url =http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000959 | access-date =2015-12-22}}</ref>

==Early career== Humphreys, who was a Democrat, settled in Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana,<ref>{{cite book | author =Frank L. Klement | title =Dark Lanterns: Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies, and Treason Trials in the Civil War | publisher =Louisiana State University Press | year =1984 | location =Baton Rouge | page =[https://archive.org/details/darklanternssecr0000klem/page/130 130] | url =https://archive.org/details/darklanternssecr0000klem/page/130 | isbn =0-8071-1174-0 }}</ref> and served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1849 to 1852, and from January 8 to March 9, 1857. He was appointed Indian agent for Utah by President Buchanan in 1857.<ref name=CongBio/>

==Anti-war Democrat== During the American Civil War, Humphreys was critical of Indiana's Republican governor, Oliver P. Morton, and President Abraham Lincoln's conduct of the war. Harrison H. Dodd, "grand commander" of the Sons of Liberty in Indiana, chose Humphreys as one of his major generals in a secret society who opposed the war.<ref>Klement, pp. 155, 167.</ref>

On September 17, 1864, General Alvin Peterson Hovey, commander of the Military District of Indiana, authorized a military commission to meet on September 19 at Indianapolis, Indiana, to begin trials of Dodd and others placed under military arrest.<ref>Klement, pp. 108–09.</ref> On October 7, 1864, Humphreys was arrested and imprisoned in the Federal Building at Indianapolis, where he became one of the defendants in the Indianapolis treason trials before the military commission.<ref>Klement, p. 176.</ref> Among the other men accused of treason were Democrats Lambdin P. Milligan, a lawyer living in Huntington, Indiana; William A. Bowles of French Lick, Indiana; and Stephen Horsey of Martin County, Indiana.<ref>Klement, pp. 130, 176, and Alan T. Nolan, "Ex Parte Milligan: A Curb of Executive and Military Power" in {{cite book| title =We The People: Indiana and the United States Constitution: Lectures in Observance of the Bicentennial of the Constitution | publisher =Indiana Historical Society | year =1987 | location =Indianapolis | pages =37–38| isbn =0871950073}} See also {{cite journal| author=Allen Sharp | title =An Echo of the War: The Aftermath of the ''Ex Parte Milligan'' Case | journal =Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History | volume =15 | issue =3 | pages =42–44 | publisher =Indiana Historical Society | location =Indianapolis | date =Summer 2003 }}</ref>

The military commission for the trial of Humphreys, Milligan, Horsey, and Bowles convened at Indianapolis on October 21, 1864, to consider five charges against the men: conspiracy against the U.S. government; offering aid and comfort to the Confederates; inciting insurrections; "disloyal practices"; and "violation of the laws of war."<ref name=Nolan39>Nolan, p. 39.</ref><ref name=EPM-Findlaw>{{caselaw source | case = ''Ex parte Milligan'', {{ussc|71|2|1866|Wall.|4|el=no}} | cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/71/2 | courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1528394/ex-parte-milligan/ | findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/71/2.html | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9985485675344493119 | justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/71/2/ | openjurist =https://openjurist.org/71/us/2 | loc =https://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep071/usrep071002a/usrep071002a.pdf }}</ref> The defendants were alleged to have established a secret organization that planned to liberate Confederates from Union prisoner-of-war camps in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; seize an arsenal to provide the freed prisoners with arms; raise an armed force to incite a general insurrection; join with the Confederates to invade Indiana and Illinois; and make war on the U.S. government.<ref name=Nolan39/><ref name=EPM-Findlaw/><ref>{{cite book| author=Gilbert R. Tredway | title =Democratic Opposition to the Lincoln Administration in Indiana | publisher =Indiana Historical Bureau | volume = 48| year =1973 | location =Indianapolis | page=182}}</ref>

Democrats charged that the arrests and trials by military commission were politically motivated amid a climate of bitter political disputes between Democrats and Republicans about the conduct of the war. Scholars who studied the trials, which were highly publicized in the press, have proposed that they were prompted by partisan politics, convened before commission of biased military officers, failed to follow the rules of evidence, and used questionable informers as witnesses.<ref>Nolan, p. 46; Tredway, pp. 227–48; and Klement, pp. 183–84.</ref> The controversial proceedings led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case known as ''Ex parte Milligan''. The Court ruled the application of military tribunals to citizens when civilian courts are still operating is unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis |editor=David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows |publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1994| pages=444–45 |location =Indianapolis |isbn=0-253-31222-1}}</ref>

On December 10, 1864, the commission found Humphreys, Milligan, Horsey, and Bowles guilty on all charges. Humphreys was sentenced to hard labor for the remainder of the war.<ref name=Klement184-85>Klement, pp. 184–85.</ref> Compared to the others accused as co-conspirators, the case against Humphreys was weaker and his sentence was less severe. (Milligan, Bowles, and Horsey were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in May, 1865.) Three weeks after his conviction, and with President Lincoln's support, General Hovey modified Humphreys's sentence, allowing his release. Humphreys was required to remain within two specific townships in Greene County and could not participate in any acts that opposed the war.<ref>The reduced sentence was partly attributed to Humphreys's efforts to prevent a draft riot in Sullivan County, Indiana, in June 1863, when he told the assembled men to return to their homes and wait to hear the outcome from the courts. See Klement, p. 184.</ref> After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their ruling in ''Ex parte Milligan'' on April 3, 1866, the men were released from custody.<ref name=Klement184-85/><ref name=Nolan40-41>Nolan, pp. 40–41.</ref>

==Later career== Humphreys was the first of the defendants from the Indianapolis treason trials to turn to the civilian courts seeking damages from his arrest, trial, and confinement. On February 1, 1866, he filed a complaint in a circuit court in Sullivan County, Indiana, against Samuel McCormick, the U.S. Army captain who arrested him.<ref>Klement, p. 228.</ref> Humphrey won the suit and was awarded $25,000 in damages, but the case bogged down during its appeal and he never collected the funds. After Congress amended the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of March 3, 1863, ending further suits in the civil courts from those who had been arbitrarily arrested during the war, Humphreys returned to a career in politics. Although he lost his bid to win a seat in the Indiana General Assembly by a narrow margin in 1868,<ref name=Klement229>Klement, p. 229.</ref> Humphreys remained active in politics. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872 and 1888.<ref name=CongBio/>

Humphreys was elected to the Indiana Senate three times, serving from 1874 to 1876, from 1878 to 1882, and from 1896 to 1900.<ref name=CongBio/> Humphreys began his first term in the Indiana Senate in 1874, but resigned in 1876 to run for a seat in the U.S Congress.<ref name=Klement229/> Humphreys was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James D. Williams and served from December 5, 1876, to March 3, 1877.<ref name=CongBio/> Humphreys returned to the Indiana Senate in 1878 and became chairman of its ways and means committee.<ref name=Klement229/> In 1896, at the age of seventy-four, the Democrats drafted Humphreys to run for another term in the Indiana Senate. Humphreys won the election and served until 1900.<ref name=Klement230>Klement, p. 230.</ref>

Although Humphreys continued agricultural pursuits in Greene County, Indiana, he remained active in politics. Humphreys attended nearly every Democratic State convention during his political life.<ref name=CongBio/><ref name=Klement229/>

Humphreys died at Linton, Indiana, on June 14, 1904, and is interred in Moss Cemetery.<ref name=CongBio/><ref name=Klement230/>

==See also== * Copperheads

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book | editor=Pitman, Benn | title =The Trials for Treason at Indianapolis: Disclosing the Plans for Establishing a North-Western Confederacy | publisher =Moore, Wilstach and Baldwin | year=1865 | location =Cincinnati | url = https://archive.org/stream/trialsfortreason00pitm#page/n7/mode/2up | oclc =1186686}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box|state=Indiana |district=2 |before=James D. Williams |years=1876-1877 |after=Thomas R. Cobb}} {{s-end}} {{IndianaUSRepresentatives}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Andrew}} Category:1821 births Category:1904 deaths Category:Indiana politicians convicted of crimes Category:Democratic Party Indiana state senators Category:Democratic Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Indiana Category:Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Category:People from Owen County, Indiana Category:People from Greene County, Indiana Category:People convicted of treason against the United States Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States military Category:Civilians who were court-martialed Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly

Andrew Humphreys

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