United States. Marshal (Mass.)

John Shepard Keyes (lawyer, Mass. state Senator, Sheriff of Middlesex County, Mass., Judge of District Court of Eastern Middlesex, and resident of Concord, Mass.) was made U.S. Marshal for Massachusetts in 1860; he resigned from office in 1866 (records of his tenure continuing into 1867). Keyes thus describes his duties as U.S. Marshal during Civil War: " ... handling all prizes and contraband goods captured, also the custody of certain prisoners ... The war spirit that prevailed ... kept me immensely busy investigating all sorts of reports of rebel spies, contraband goods, and.

(Cont.) letters and communications from southern sympathizers. I ran the civil and criminal part of the United States in my district, leaving the military to the Governor and the President."

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