John T Dial
Information comes from Jim Reis, author
of Pieces of the Past books and column, and reprinted here with his permission.
THIS SOLDIERS STORY ONE OF FATE
CAMPBELL HORSE THIEF CAME CLOSE TO EXECUTION BUT LINCOLN STEPPED IN
While the Civil War spun in and around the Campbell County area, young Northern Kentucky men facing military service in opposing armies were playing havoc in Newport streets. The latest fad was stealing business signs and nailing them to the front door of unsuspecting home owners.
Into this whirl of events came John Dial.
Dial, 26, lived in southern Campbell County, possibly in the Persimmon Grove area and was the son of Alfred and Anna Dial and apparently had three brothers, William, Alfred and James and two sisters, Margaret and Sarah. John Dial's misadventure began in early April 1863 when he and a friend, E M Grindle, decided to make money the easy way. Their plan was to steal horses. Horses in the 1860s were a necessity to get from one place to another. And like cars today, a horse then was, except for the home, a person's most prized possession. Increasing the value of horse in 1863 was the Civil War, which was using up horses almost as fast as soldiers.
Northern Kentucky that spring was a seller's market for horses and the Union and Confederate Armies were actively looking to buy and or/steal just about any horse. One newspaper account that year said the shoeing of government horses was a major business in Newport with "hundreds of horses shod here daily." Dial and Grindle pulled off a successful robbery and took off with two horses they sold for about $500. Their victim turned out to be Levi Dicken, who happened to be driving a wagon along a road near Grants Lick.
Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, 12 April 1863, page 2
NEWPORT NEWS
TURNED OVER TO THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES-The two men, Dial and Grindle, who were arrested near Grants Lick, Campbell County, a few days ago, on the charge of horse stealing and held to bail in the sum of $500 each for their appearance at the Circuit Court, have been turned over to the military authorities, it appearing that they were in the service of the rebels at the time of their arrest.
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They were apparently headed for Bracken County after the robbery, but they were captured a few days later. Dicken may have recognized the men, especially Dial, who like Dicken lived in southern Campbell County. They were returned for trial on April 9. An account the next day said the men had told Dicken during the robbery that ?Morgan wanted the horses". Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan was threatening Union posts throughout Kentucky. When they were arrested, the men had $504 in Confederate money on them, indicating they had sold the horses rather than simply turning them over to Confederate troops. The men may have identified themselves as Confederates simply as a concern about jail time. Conviction as a horse thief back then almost assured that one would end up in the state penitentiary, a dark and hard life, for several years.
As a prisoner of war, however, things would be different. Early in the war neither side in Kentucky was equipped to handle prisoners. Confederate raiders, who needed to move quickly, often took the weapons from Union prisoners and released them after they swore an oath or signed a pledge not to take up arms again. Confederates, captured by Union troops, often were simply held for a few days, fed and then sent south, where they were exchanged for Union soldiers.
Unfortunately for Dial, events were quickly changing the rules, thanks to Capt. Jim Caldwell, who had become a thorn in the side of local Union officials, who repeatedly dispatched search parties to track him. There was also an embarrassing situation in which George Hodge, a Confederate general and a representative from Northern Kentucky in the Confederate Congress, visited his home and friends in Newport. He slipped in and out without Union officials even knowing he was there. As a result, prisoner exchanges were coming to a halt and on April 22, while Dial remained in jail, Union Gen A E Burnside, commander of the Cincinnati area, issued a new directive.
It said, "All persons found within our lines who commit acts for the benefit of enemies of our country will be tried as spies or traitors and if convicted will suffer death." Among those labeled as spies or traitors were those convicted of recruiting or helping recruiters. Dial suddenly found his situation more serious. No longer simply a captured Confederate awaiting parole or exchange. Dial was transferred from criminal court in Campbell County to military court in Cincinnati.
Prosecutors pointed to Dial's claim he stole the horses for the Confederates, and they speculated the Confederates might include the notorious Jim Caldwell and his men. As a result Dial was tried in June by a military court in Cincinnati, found guilty and sentenced to be shot. The fate of his partner, Grindle, is not clear. His name disappeared from accounts by the time Dial went to trial. The only hope Dial had to escape the firing squad was a pardon, which could only be issued by President Abraham Lincoln.
Pardons were difficult but not impossible to obtain; the president pardoned many during the war. But Dial's chances suffered a setback in the case of William Francis Corbin and Thomas Jefferson McGraw. For their full story see William Corbin History. Corbin and McGraw were executed May 15, 1863 at Johnson Island Prison. What impact the deaths of Corbin and McGraw had on Dial's case is uncertain, but in September Dial received his response. An account in the Cincinnati Commercial newspaper on Sept. 25 said Lincoln had revoked Dial's death sentence, and Dial was being returned to Campbell County Circuit Court for trial as a horse thief.
Dial was again found guilty in November, but because he was convicted in a circuit court rather than in military court, his sentence was four years in the state penitentiary in Frankfort. The trial was not without its drama. Dial's father, Alfred, was arrested and fine $50 for carrying a concealed weapon at the trial. Dial was transferred after his conviction from the Alexandria Jail to the Newport Jail. On Nov 28 he was taken to the state penitentiary. Dial served just more than two years. In January 1866 he received a pardon from Gov Thomas Bramlette.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 January 1866, page 2
PARDONED-John T Dial, who was convicted of highway robbery in the Campbell Circuit Court, in November 1863 and sentenced to four years imprisonment in the State Penitentiary, has been pardoned by Governor Bramlette.
In the spring of 1863, Dial, who then claimed to be a Confederate solider, met a citizen of Campbell County named Levi Dicken, on the highway and took from him a horse. He was subsequently captured, tried by court marital in Cincinnati, convicted of being a guerrilla, and sentenced to be shot. President Lincoln pardoned him, however, the day before the execution was to have taken place and he was then tried by the civil authorities, as stated above and sentenced to the penitentiary.
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The 1870 census shows John Dial, then 33, living with his parents, brother James and sister Sarah in the Gubser's Mill area. His occupation was listed as laborer. Ten years later, Dial was living near his parents but on his own farm, with his 33 year old wife Catharine, and a 6 year old son, Charles. They later moved to Kansas where he died in Council Grove in June 1908.