PETITION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA BY SIMON E. HODGES -
JUNE,1863
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Note: Original may be found in the records of the N. C. Supreme Court,
North Carolina Archives, Raleigh, NC
State of North Carolina
Lenoir County
To the Honourable the Judges of the Supreme Court of North
Carolina
The petition of Simon E. Hodges of the County of Lenoir most
respectfully sheweth that he was sometime in the month of June A. D.
1862 enlisted in the company of Captain David S. Davis of the Partisan
Rangers of N. Carolina in the service of the Confederate States of
America. Your Petitioner further sheweth that being there in camp in
said company your Petitioner engaged one William Powell aged thirty
seven years and a citizen of the Confederate States and offered him as
a substitute for himself during the war, as he thought & believed he
had a right to do, under the act of Congress of the ___ day of April A.
D. 1862 which authorized the President to call out and place in the
military service all white men who are residents of the Confederate
States between the ages of eighteen and thirty five years at the time
the call is made. And upon the production of the said William Powell
into camp on the 30th day of June A. D. 1862, the usual oath of
citizenship and of his age were taken by him, and after being certified
as competent and able to perform military duty by a surgeon he was duly
accepted as a substitute for the war in the place and stead of your
Petitioner, and thereupon Captain David S. Davis executed and delivered
to your Petitioner a discharge from the service all which will more
fully and at large appear by reference to the said discharge which is
hereto annexed & prayed to be taken as a part of this petition. The
Petitioner further sheweth that recently at another enrollment of
conscripts at Kinston in the County of Lenoir on the ___ day of June
A. D. 1863 your Petitioner was again called upon and produced the said
discharge & claimed an exemption by virtue thereof, but the enrolling
officer, Capt. Thigpen, held that the furnishing a substitute under the
age of forty five years constituted no good cause or claim for
exemption, (and he?) he enrolled your Petitioner again as a conscript,
and having given your Petitioner a furlough for a short time, directed
and commanded him to report to Col. Peter Mallett at Camp Holmes in
Raleigh , Your Petitioner further sheweth that he is advised that the
arrest of his person and the restraint of his liberty as aforesaid is
illegal, for that being discharged from service by reason of having
furnished a substitute for the war as aforesaid, the Confederate States
or its agents cannot in violation of the contract recited in the said
certificate of discharge as aforesaid compel your Petitioner to go into
camp again as a conscript & later into the military service. Your
Petitioner therefore prays your Honors to grant the writ of Habeas
Corpus to be directed to the said Peter Mallett, colonel commanding
conscripts in North Carolina, requiring him to bring before your Honors
the body of your Petitioner with the cause of his capture and detention
that the same may be inquired into and duly afforded to your Petitioner
accordingly.
Simon E. Hodges
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State of North Carolina
Lenoir County
Personally appeared before me Nicholas Hunter Clerk of Lenoir County
Court
ex officio commissioner of affadavits Simon E. Hodges who is personally
known to me, and who being duly sworn maketh oath, that the matter and
things set forth in the foregoing petition as of his own knowledge are
true, and those otherwise stated therein he believes to be true.
Given before me the 19th day of June A. D. 1863
N. Hunter, Clerk
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State of North Carolina Lenoir County
I certify that Simon E. Hodges aged thirty years born in Lenoir
County, State of North Carolina, by occupation a farmer, was enlisted
as a member of my Company on the 28th day of June 1862, said Hodges has
dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion, is five feet seven inches high.
He is honorably discharged from my company having placed a substitute
in his stead in the person of William Powel aged thirty seven years,
said Powel having been just duly examined by a Surgeon and certified to
be qualified to perform military duty and the said Powel was received
by me in the Confederate service in the place of said Hodges.
June 30, 1862
David S. Davis
Capt., P. R., C. S. A.
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State of North Carolina Wayne County
On the 24th day of June A. D. 1863 personally appeared before me S. H.
Denmark, Clerk of the County Court of Wayne County and ex officio
commissioner of affadavits, David S. Davis who being sworn upon the
Holy Evangelists of Almighty God deposes and says as follows: On the
30th day of June 1862 I was in command of an independant company of
Partisan Rangers as captain. S. E. Hodges was a private in said
company and on the said 30th day of June 1862 he furnished an able
bodied substitute in said company in the person of William Powell who
was duly received and mustered into service and therefore I gave the
said S. E. Hodges a discharge from my company.
Capt. David S. Davis
Sworn to and subscribed before me at office in Goldsboro the day and
date above written. Witness my hand and the seal of Wayne County.
S. H. Denmark, Clerk of Wayne County Court
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The State of North Carolina To Col. Peter Mallett, Greeting:
We command you that the body of Simon E. Hodges, by whatever name he
may be called, under your custody detained, as it is said, together
with the day and cause of his detention, you have before our Supreme
Court now sitting at the capitol in the city of Raleigh, immediately
after the receipt of this writ, to do and receive all & singular such
things as shall be then & there considered of him in this behalf.
Witness Edmund B. Freeman, Clerk of said Court, at office this 22 day
of June, 1863.
E. B. Freeman, Clerk
Sheriff of Wake will execute this writ.
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The following is written on the back of the above writ:
Executed
Delivered a copy of this writ to Col. Peter Mallett, June 26, 1863
(Initials illegible), High Sheriff
By H. L. Ray, D. S.
Conscript Office
Camp Holmes
June 27, 1863
I certify that the within named Simon E. Hodges is not and has not been
in my custody. Peter Mallett, Col., Camp Conscripts, N. C.
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