Harlan, John Marshall, 1833-1911

U.S. Supreme Court justice.

John M. Harlan was born on June 1, 1833, at Harlan Station, Kentucky. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853. During the Civil War he raised and commanded a Union regiment. In 1862, he defeated John Hunt Morgan at Rolling Fork River Bridge. Shortly there after, he resigned from the army because of the death of his father. He won a special election to obtain his father's office as attorney general of Kentucky. He served in this capacity until 1867. Harlan had undergone a political transformation after the war, becoming a Radical Republican. He lost several state elections but, in doing so, established the Republican Party in Kentucky. In 1876, Harlan led the Republican delegation from Kentucky, to the National Convention in Ohio. When he became convinced that the ticket of Benjamin Bristow (his law partner) and James Blaine could not win, he delivered the delegation for Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes rewarded him with an appointment to the Supreme Court. He served as a justice from 1877-1911. Harlan was the leading liberal on a conservative court. He came out against "separate but equal" by being the lone dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson and Berea College v. Knetucky. He believed Congress could levy income tax and in a strong enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act. He died at his home in 1911.

Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and lawyer and politician of Kentucky.

Supreme Court justice.

Harlan graduated from Center College, Kentucky in 1850 and studied law at Transylvania University. He practiced law until the start of the Civil War, when he was in the Tenth Kentucky Infantry Regiment. After the war, he returned to the practice of law and was involved in state politics. In 1877, he became associate justice of the US. Supreme Court, where he remained until his death.

John M. Harlan was commissioned in the Kentucky 10th Infantry as a colonel on 21 November 1861. He resigned on 6 April 1863 due to the death of his father.

William E. Ludlow was mustered into the Indiana 10th Infantry as a sergeant on 18 September 1861. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant and adjutant on 22 June 1862. Ludlow was mustered out on 20 September 1864.

Oliver P. Morton was the fourteenth governor of Indiana. He established himself as a "War Governor" because of his strong efforts to support the Civil War, one of which was to allow Indiana residents to apply in the Kentucky army.

Biographical Note