Judge Constable

Judge Charles H. Constable (John Thomas Richards,
Abraham Lincoln, the Lawyer-Statesman,
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1916).

Over a decade prior to the Civil War, Illinois had become a free state with the adoption of the Constitution of 1848. The final decision was made only after a prolonged struggle even though there had been few slaves in the state — only 331 when Henry arrived in 1840.

Third Clark County Courthouse, built. 1839. torn down in
1887,  site of the 1863 military arrest of Judge Charles H.
Constable (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois
 and History of Clark County, 1907).

Although a free state, Illinois loyalties were split by the War. In March 1861, in Marshall, Illinois, several deserters being safeguarded by a group of Clark County Copperheads opposing the War, were arrested by an Indiana army detail. A local judge, Charles H. Constable, freed the fugitives and ordered the arrest of two Union sergeants on kidnapping charges. Under the command of Col. Henry B. Carrington, 250 soldiers arrived by special train from Indianapolis, surrounded the Marshall courthouse, freed the two sergeants, and arrested Judge Constable.

Constable was tried in federal court, but the charges were dropped. Upon returning to Marshall, he and his family suffered threats and harassment. At one point a group of Union Soldiers forced him to take an oath of allegiance. Possibly as a result of the public humiliation, he became addicted to morphine and on 9 Oct 1865 died of an overdose (believed by some to be a suicide).

Judge Constable is buried in the Marshall Cemetery with his wife, Martha, who died just a few months after her husband.

All genealogical data reported in these posts are from primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or reliable transcriptions thereof, and never from unsourced online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability.