Harrison H. Dodd

Harrison Horton Dodd (29 de febrero de 1824 - 2 de junio de 1906) fue fundador de la OSL (Orden de los Hijos de la Libertad ) de la década de 1860, ^{[ 1 ]} una sociedad secreta paramilitar con juramento que era un grupo disidente radicalizado disidente de los KGC ( Caballeros del Círculo Dorado ). El objetivo fundamental de los miembros de la OSL era frustrar los esfuerzos bélicos de las fuerzas militares de la Unión (ejemplificados en las políticas de guerra de Abraham Lincoln y sus aliados políticos y militares cercanos), sin dejar de ser ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos.

Harrison Horton Dodd nació en Brownville, Nueva York . En su juventud se mudó a Toledo, Ohio , donde se postuló sin éxito para alcalde bajo la bandera del Partido Know-Nothing en 1855. Al año siguiente se mudó a Indianápolis , Indiana , ^{[ 1 ]} donde se estableció como impresor y participó activamente en el Partido Demócrata . ^{[ 2 ]} Falleció en Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Genealogía de la familia Daniel Dod, página 89

Durante el primer año de la guerra, cuando a veces se obligaba a los demócratas a prestar juramento de lealtad, Dodd anunció la creación de los "Dragones de Marion", una compañía de soldados que lucharía por el ejército de la Unión. Sin embargo, la compañía nunca llegó a formarse. ^{[ 3 ]}

Dodd frequently campaigned against Oliver P. Morton's and Abraham Lincoln's policies, going so far as to help start the Sons of Liberty after becoming disillusioned with the OAK (Order of American Knights), although he never called the Sons that by name. By all accounts he was the most important Copperhead in Indianapolis.^[4] In 1863 a speech given by Dodd at Rensselaer, Indiana convinced a Methodist preacher that Dodd was a traitor. The local provost marshal without the authority to do so arrested Dodd. Local Democrats threatened a riot, and Dodd was freed with a promise that he would stop any such riot from occurring.^[5]Felix Grundy Stidger (1836–1908), a U.S. Secret Service Agent who had successfully infiltrated the OSL (Order of Sons of Liberty) and held the position of Grand Secretary of the OSL for the state of Kentucky, claimed that Dodd was planning on the releasing of the Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton.^[6]

On August 20, 1864, Dodd's offices were raided by the Union military, recovering thousands of rounds of ammunition and 400 revolvers, labelled "Sunday school books". Several of his co-conspirators, including William A. Bowles, were arrested. Dodd escaped into Canada.^[1] He was convicted of treason by a military commission and sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Johnson commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on May 31, 1865.^[7] The conviction of the co-conspirators went through the federal courts, and eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase issued a writ of habeas corpus, freeing them, on April 3, 1866. On December 17, the Court ruled that since the civil courts were still functioning in Indiana at the time they were convicted by military commission, the convicted were denied constitutional protections and were freed under a holding styled as Ex parte Milligan.^[8]

Returning from Canada after the trials, Dodd served several terms as mayor of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin as a Republican,^[1] joining the party of his wartime enemies Morton and Lincoln.^[4]

• List of mayors of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

• Bodenhamer, David (1994). La enciclopedia de Indianápolis . Indiana University Press . ISBN 0-253-31222-1.
• Holliday, John. (1911). Indianápolis y la Guerra Civil . EJ Hecker.
• Klement, Frank L. (1984). Linternas oscuras: Sociedades políticas secretas, conspiraciones y juicios por traición en la Guerra Civil . LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-1567-3.
• La genealogía de la familia Daniel Dod en Estados Unidos . 1940.