John Milton Elliott (May 16, 1820 – March 26, 1879) was an American lawyer and politician from

Prestonsburg, Kentucky Prestonsburg is a small home rule-class city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Kentucky, United States. It is in the eastern part of the state in the valley of the Big Sandy River. The population was 3,255 at the time of the 2010 censu ...

. He represented

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1853 until 1857 and served in the

First Confederate Congress The 1st Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from February 18, 1862, to February 17, 1864, during the first two years of Jefferson Davis's presidency, a ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Life and career

Elliott was born in

Scott County, Virginia Scott County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,576. Its county seat is Gate City. Scott County was formed by an act of the General Assembly on November 24, ...

on May 16, 1820 to John and Jane Elliott. The family moved to Kentucky during his childhood, with his father serving two terms in the Kentucky General Assembly. In 1841 he began practicing law in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. He was elected to the Kentucky legislature in 1847. He later followed it with a stint in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1853 to 1859. In 1861 he went back to the Kentucky legislature, but was expelled by Judge

Bland Ballard Bland Williams Ballard (October 16, 1761 – September 5, 1853) was a soldier and statesman from Kentucky. Biography Bland Williams Ballard was born on October 16, 1761, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the eldest son of Bland Ballard. In 1779 ...

on December 21, 1861 for giving aid to the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. He then turned his loyalties to the Confederacy, helping to form the

Confederate government of Kentucky The Confederate government of Kentucky was a shadow government established for the Commonwealth of Kentucky by a self-constituted group of Confederate sympathizers during the American Civil War. The shadow government never replaced the electe ...

, and served in its Senate as a Senator from Kentucky. After the war, he moved to

Bath County, Kentucky Bath County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,750. The county seat is Owingsville. The county was formed in 1811. Bath County is included in the Mount Sterling, KY Micropolitan St ...

. In 1876, Elliott began serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Murdered by a fellow judge

On March 26, 1879 Judge Elliott and fellow jurist

Thomas Hines Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

left the Kentucky State House, when they met a judge from

Henry County, Kentucky Henry County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky bordering the Kentucky River. Its county seat is New Castle, but its largest city is Eminence. The county was founded in 1798 from portions of Shelby ...

, Colonel Thomas Buford. Buford's late sister had lost her land to pay back a debt of $20,000; Elliott had ruled against her in a court proceeding in which she had attempted to save the property. After Hines had turned and walked away from Elliott, Buford asked Elliott whether he wanted to go on a

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a near ...

hunt, then shot him point-blank with a double-barreled 12 gauge

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

loaded with

buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired throu ...

, as he had sworn on his sister's grave he would do. Hines inspected the body as Buford turned himself in to a deputy sheriff who had come to see where the shotgun blast came from. The assassination made news throughout the country. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' opined that the murder "could scarcely have taken place in any region calling itself

civilized A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Civi ...

except Kentucky, or some other Southern state".Kleber pg. 291

Aftermath

Buford offered a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity during his trial. The jury did indeed find him insane, after an initial 6–6 deadlock. Buford was sent to the Central Kentucky Insane Asylum in

Anchorage, Kentucky Anchorage is a home rule-class city in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,348 at the 2010 census and an estimated 2,432 in 2018. It is a suburb of Louisville. History The land that is now Anchorage was a p ...

, but would eventually escape in 1882 to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, where he was unable to be extradited. He voluntarily returned to the asylum in 1884 and died on February 12, 1885. Elliott was buried at

Frankfort Cemetery The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a ...

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

. His wife had a statue erected in his honor at the courthouse of

Boyd County, Kentucky Boyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, its population was 48,065. The county seat is Catlettsburg, and its largest city is Ashland. The county was formed in 1860. Its are found at the northeaste ...

Catlettsburg, Kentucky Catlettsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 1,856 at the 2010 census. Catlettsburg is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

. It is debated whether

Elliott County, Kentucky Elliott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat is Sandy Hook. The county was formed in 1869 from parts of Morgan, Lawrence, and Carter counties, and is named for John Lyle Elliott, U.S. Congressman, Confederat ...

is named for Elliott or his father.Smith pg. 222

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, John M. 1820 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges Assassinated American politicians Burials at Frankfort Cemetery Deaths by firearm in Kentucky Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Judges of the Kentucky Court of Appeals Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Kentucky Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives People from Bath County, Kentucky People from Prestonburg, Kentucky People from Scott County, Virginia People murdered in Kentucky

Life and career

Murdered by a fellow judge

Aftermath

See also

References