Soldier or spy -John Yates (Article 109)
A Soldier or A Spy? (Article 109)
President Abraham Lincoln granted several hundred pardons during the Civil War, to both Union and captured Confederate soldiers. His Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and most of the Generals, objected to Lincoln’s interference in, what they considered, necessary military discipline. But Lincoln interfered anyway! Of one young soldier who was convicted of falling asleep as a sentinel and sentenced to death by his commanding officer (and approved by Secretary Stanton), Lincoln said, “This man must not be shot as I do not think shooting him will do him any good.” And, Lincoln signed his pardon. Once when several orders for executions were presented to Lincoln, he granted a pardon in every case, saying, “I am trying to evade the butchery today.”
But one particular case baffled the President.
John Yates Beall
John Yates Beall’s small family farm was no plantation, and the men in the family worked alongside the several slaves his father owned. He attended the University of Virginia with the intent to become a lawyer, but left school to return to his family’s farm. He was in a Virginia militia unit in 1859 and was present at the execution of John Brown, a violent abolitionist who had tried to start a slave insurrection. By his own words, John Beall was a committed Southerner, but was ambivalent about secession; however, after the Union Army crossed into Virginia and seized Arlington and Fairfax, he became a committed Confederate. Soon afterward, Beall’s militia unit joined what would become Stonewall Jackson’s army and, as an enlisted soldier, he participated in several battles which occurred on Virginia soil. He was seriously wounded in a heroic volunteer mission to re-enforce a small Confederate unit under attack, and was allowed to recuperate at a Louisianna plantation owned by a family friend.
After he felt sufficiently healed, he left the comforts of Louisianna to re-join his unit in Stonewall Jackson’s army but, through a series of mis-directions, never made contact with his former superior officers. For reasons lost in history, Beall decided to make his way to a ranch his brother owned near Dubuque, Iowa and settled in there; becoming the manager of a cooperative grist mill. He used the name John Yates, and quickly gained the respect of his neighbors through his honesty and hard work. However, his stay was interrupted when an abolitionist group began to suspect Beall might be a Confederate operative (he was not, yet) and made plans to have him arrested by local authorities. Beall learned of the suspicions, and fled north to Canada where he sought out actual Confederate agents in Toronto.
His recent experiences renewed his commitment to the Confederate cause and he was determined to lead a unit to disrupt Union enterprises in the far northern states; but he needed authorization and support from Confederate officials. So, he travelled to the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia and laid his strategy before Confederate military officers and even to President Jefferson Davis. His original plan, which would require a commission in the Confederate Navy, was to take a small band of irregulars onto Lake Erie to free Confederate prisoners-of war held on an island off the Ohio shore. As he met with officials in Richmond, they were skeptical of his Ohio plan; however, he was designated a “Master” by the Navy and his mission was changed to focus on nearby Chesapeake Bay. There, his unit used a small sailing schooner and canoes to sabotage lighthouses and buoys, and even captured several Union merchant ships and confiscated their supplies. After six months of harassment of shipping in the Bay, he and his men were captured by the Union Navy and imprisoned. He was released on a prisoner exchange six months later and travelled to Georgia where he had a brief visit with a young school teacher, who was possibly his fiancée. Although the two had made no formal announcement, Beall wrote of his “betrothed” in his diary.
Beall still intended to serve the Confederacy and again went to Richmond for a new assignment. He believed that he could lead a small squad to Ohio where they would release the Confederate prisoners and form an effective unit to carry the war into the northern-most states. However, Richmond officials still did not support that plan; so, he headed north to Canada on his own. There, Beall convinced a Lt. Colonel, who was in charge of Confederate affairs, that his surprise attack would work and he was authorized to form a squad of about twenty men to carry out the mission. Although Beall’s men referred to him as Captain, that rank had not been officially conferred; a point which became critical later. Beall planned for his unit to capture a Union gunboat which guarded the island prison, but the Union Navy learned of the plot and several of his men were captured. Beall realized that the prison would now be on high alert and any chance to complete that mission was lost.
But Beall was persistent! So, he developed an alternate plan. He decided to use his team to disrupt rail traffic around Niagara Falls; but after only limited success, he was captured on December 16th, 1864. He was now a prisoner of war himself, again.
Union Major General John Dix took control of the prisoner, declared Beall was not a Commissioned Officer of the Confederate forces, that his earlier appointment as a Master had been invalid for two years, and charged Beall as a spy; which carried the death penalty. The General then isolated Beall, prohibited outside correspondence, and would not allow him counsel. But word of Beall’s confinement leaked out and resulted in a wide-spread public demand in the North for modification of the charges, some fearing that the Confederacy would charge Union prisoners as spies in retaliation. Numerous prominent Northern lawyers, many leading clergymen, and nearly a hundred Congressmen signed a petition for him to be treated as a prisoner of war, not a spy. By early February, Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln were both approached personally and through correspondence with pleas to issue a pardon; and the President had conversations with private citizens, other trusted advisors, and several Senators. But Secretary of War Edwin Stanton approved the death sentence and the execution date was set for February 24, 1865. Only President Lincoln could now save John Yates Beall.
General Dix, possibly to influence some news reporting of the case, allowed Beall’s mother and several friends to visit as the day of execution neared. He further granted permission to two clergymen to spend time in Beall’s cell, however, General Dix clearly did not want Lincoln to interfere by granting a pardon.
And, Lincoln did hesitate.
As Beal was led to the gallows, all he asked was that the process not be prolonged; but General Dix required that a diatribe against insurgency be read by an officer as Beall sat in a chair, under the rope, and was forced to listen. Contrary to Beall’s last request, the proclamation was so long that the executioner finally stepped up and yelled for the reader to stop! By all accounts, Beall was calm, and when asked if he had any final words, said, “I protest against this execution. It is absolute murder – brutal murder. I die in the service and defense of my country.”
Abraham Lincoln was informed of Beall’s last statement and, afterward, he confided in Secretary of State Seward, that, “I even had to turn away his poor sister who begged for his life and I did nothing but let him be executed and I can’t get the distress out of my mind. It was a lack of decision I now regret for the boy was surely a soldier.”
This President, who had issued hundreds of pardons, many of which had halted other executions, sincerely regretted that he had not issued one more.
Post script: The photograph above was taken of John Beall an hour before his scheduled execution. He appears resigned to his fate as he stares directly into the camera lens. Beall had kept a diary for years as well as many loose pages about his life, right until his final day. A publisher combined these writings and created a fascinating book in late 1865, which he titled “A Memoir by John Yates Beall.” It was a best seller in the South.