Joseph Holt was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician.
24 Facts About Joseph Holt
2.
Joseph Holt returned to Kentucky and successfully battled the secessionist element thereby helping to keep Kentucky in the Union.
3.
Joseph Holt served as Lincoln's chief arbiter and enforcer of military law, and supporter of emancipation.
4.
Joseph Holt was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, on January 6,1807.
5.
Joseph Holt was educated at St Joseph's College in Bardstown, Kentucky and Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
6.
Joseph Holt settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and set up a law office in town.
7.
Joseph Holt married Mary Harrison and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1832.
8.
Mary died of it, and Joseph Holt returned to Louisville to recuperate.
9.
In 1857, Joseph Holt was appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Buchanan and moved to Washington DC He served until 1859 when Buchanan appointed him Postmaster General.
10.
The Buchanan administration was shaken in December 1860 and January 1861, when the Confederacy was formed and many cabinet members resigned, but Joseph Holt was both against slavery and strongly for the Union.
11.
Stanton and Joseph Holt convinced President Buchanan he had to speak out against secession as an illegal act.
12.
When Lincoln took office, Joseph Holt returned to Kentucky and worked successfully to keep the state out of the Confederacy.
13.
Joseph Holt joined the Army as a colonel in 1862 and was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to be the Judge Advocate General of the Union Army.
14.
Joseph Holt crafted the argument to the Supreme Court in Ex Parte Vallandigham, By the time he joined the Army, he believed that the only means to prevent treason from occurring again was to ensure that slavery was abolished for all time, and eventually equal treatment under the law enforced in the South.
15.
Joseph Holt was the first Judge Advocate General to hold a general's rank.
16.
Joseph Holt personally prosecuted the court-martial against Major General Fitz John Porter for crimes of disobedience of a lawful order and misbehavior in front of the enemy.
17.
Joseph Holt was one of the many politicians considered for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination in 1864.
18.
For instance, Joseph Holt crafted legislation that stripped Union Army deserters of their citizenship.
19.
Joseph Holt used the Army's power to suppress newspapers as well as oversee the arrest and trial of Congressman Benjamin Gwinn Harris of Maryland who "uttered treasonous statements" in the House of Representatives.
20.
Joseph Holt prepared an order for the signature of Johnson for the arrest of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and five other suspects.
21.
In 1866, Joseph Holt issued a pamphlet, titled Vindication of Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt From the Foul Slanders of Traitors, Confessed Perjurers and Suborners, Acting in the Interest of Jefferson Davis, in which he attempted to defend himself against the various allegations and clear up some of the confusion stemming from the trial.
22.
Joseph Holt served as Judge Advocate General until he retired on December 1,1875.
23.
Joseph Holt had a quiet retirement and died in Washington on August 1,1894.
24.
Joseph Holt is buried in the Holt Family Cemetery in Addison, Kentucky.