John James Key

Part I

One much-publicized incident during the Civil War forever catapulted Terre Haute lawyer John James Key into American history books.

A proud man from a distinguished family, Key carried the stain created by the experience for the rest of his life.

John was the oldest son of Marshall Key and Harriet Selman Key. His affluent father was clerk of the circuit court of Mason County, Ky. His sister, Elizabeth, married prominent Terre Haute attorney Thomas Henry Nelson, distinguished ambassador to Chile and Mexico under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant respectively.

As a result of Elizabeth's close childhood association with teacher Harriet Beecher, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has transformed the former Marshall Key home at Washington, Ky., into the Harriet Beecher Stowe Slavery to Freedom Museum.

John Key married Hester Rudd, known as "Hetty," the youngest daughter of Dr. Christopher Rudd of Springfield, Ky., and his wife, the former Ann Benoist Palmer.

Hetty's older sister, Sarah, was married to Terre Haute lawyer Elisha Mills Huntington, for nearly 21 years (1842-62) the only federal judge in Indiana.

Sister Louisa married Hamilton Smith, lawyer, industrialist and founder of the Cannelton Cotton Mill. Hamilton's half brother Ballard Smith was a Terre Haute lawyer.

In June 1853, John and Hetty Key purchased property in Perry County, Ind., near Cannelton, including 102 acres owned by Judge Huntington.

Key was active in Cannelton affairs. In 1855, he was elected town trustee and spearheaded a three-year battle to convince the Indiana legislature to move the Perry County seat from Rome to Cannelton. The request was granted in December 1858.

Admitted to the bar, Key was commissioned district prosecuting attorney on Oct. 28, 1856, but refused to qualify, allowing brother-in-law Christopher Rudd Jr. to assume the post.

Key was chosen the initial district judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Spencer, Perry, Dubois, Crawford and Orange counties on Oct. 26, 1860, succeeding Lemuel Q. DeBruler, who had served only Perry County.

Judge Key resigned in November 1861 to join the Union cause. He may have served as lieutenant colonel in the 60th Indiana Regiment for awhile. Ultimately he was commissioned a major in the U.S. Army as adjutant to Gen. Henry W. Halleck.

On Sept. 16, 1862, Union forces under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan confronted Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Md. The next day, Gen. Joseph Hooker's corps mounted an assault on Lee's flank that began the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history. Union offensives pierced Confederate lines but the advantage was not pursued, enabling Lee to fight to a standstill.

Major Key's brother, Col. Thomas M. Key, was McClellan's adjutant. Following that battle, Major Levi Turner asked Major Key why McClellan did not use his advantage.

"That is not the game," John Key allegedly replied. "The object is that neither army shall gain much advantage over the other; that both shall be kept in the field till they are exhausted, when we will make a compromise, and save slavery."

Key's statement was related to the president at the time he was distributing the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln requested Key and Turner to appear before him at the White House on Sept. 27.

Despite Turner's testimony that he had never heard Key say anything disloyal, the major did not deny making the statement. Following the conference, Lincoln wrote:

"In my view it is wholly inadmissable (sic) for any gentleman holding a military commission to utter such sentiments as Major Key Therefore let Major John J. Key be forthwith dismissed from the Military service of the United States."

It was declared an "honorable discharge."

Stunned by Lincoln's decision, Key protested his dismissal to the President with a "bundle of letters." Meanwhile, his oldest son, Capt. Joseph Rudd Key, was killed at the battle of Perryville, Ky., on Oct. 8, 1862.

At least two of Lincoln's replies to Key exist. One dated Nov. 24 is found in virtually every major collection of Lincoln's letters and is considered by several authorities as one of the most important documents in American history. In substantial part, it reads:

"I sincerely sympathise (sic) with you in the death of your brave and noble son.

"In regard to my dismissal of yourself from the military service, it seems to me you misunderstand me. I did not charge, or intend to charge you with disloyalty.

"I had been brought to fear that there was a class of officers in the army, not very inconsiderable in numbers, who were playing a game to not beat the enemy when they could, on some peculiar notion as to the proper way of saving the Union; and when you were proved to me, in your own presence, to have avowed yourself in favor of that 'game,' and did not attempt to controvert that proof, I dismissed you as an example and a warning to that supposed class.

"I bear you no ill will; and I regret that I could not have the example without wounding you personally. But can I now, in view of the public interest, restore you to the service, by which the army would understand that I indorse and approve that game myself?

*** "I am really sorry for the pain the case gives you, but I do not see how, consistently with duty, I can change it. Yours, &c.

/s/ Abraham Lincoln."

A few months after receiving that letter, Key and his family moved to Terre Haute.

Continued to next week