John Haynes

John Haynes c.1594-1654, colonial governor of Massachusetts and then of Connecticut. He emigrated (1633) from England to Massachusetts and as governor (1635) banished Roger Williams, an act he later regretted. Haynes moved (1637) to Hartford, Conn., and became (1639) the first governor of Connecticut under the Fundamental Orders . He held the office on alternate years until his death. He urged the union of the New England colonies and later served as Connecticut commissioner to the New England Confederation.

Swayne, Noah Haynes (b. Frederick County, Va., 7 Dec. 1804; d. New York City, 8 June 1884; interred Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.), associate justice, 1862–1881. Born in Virginia in 1804, Noah Swayne read law in the offices of two Virginia lawyers and was admitted to the bar at the age of nineteen. By this time, however, his antislavery views induced him to move west into Ohio, a free state. He began a practice of law and was an active Jacksonian Democrat. Indeed in 1830, President Andrew Jackson appointed Swayne U.S. attorney, a post he occupied until 1841. He built up a successful law practice, including involvement as counsel in several Ohio fugitive slave cases.

His continued opposition to slavery led Swayne to join the Republican party and to support the presidential candidacy of John Fremont in 1856. When his friend Justice John McLean suddenly died in April 1861, Swayne quickly enlisted the support of his friends ranging from the entire Ohio congressional delegation including Senators John Sherman and Benjamin Wade, to New York attorney Samuel Tilden. He even traveled to Washington and helped to orchestrate a campaign aimed at educating President Abraham Lincoln about his suitability for the post. Lincoln was convinced; he nominated Swayne on 22 January 1862. Senate confirmation followed two days later with only one dissent.

Unfortunately, Swayne's potential greatness as a jurist did not materialize. He was in fact both the first and the weakest of Lincoln's five appointments to the Court. His only major claim to any sort of distinction was his staunch judicial support of Lincoln's war measures. These included the Union blockade, issuance of paper money (greenbacks), and the legitimacy of martial law. On the other hand, in Gelpcke v. Dubuque (1864) he supported with equal vigor the contractual rights of railroad bond holders, even in the face of repudiation sanctioned both by the Iowa state legislature and state supreme court. Obligations sacred to law are not to be destroyed simply because “a state tribunal has erected the altar and decreed the sacrifice.”

As a justice, Swayne had no inclination to withdraw from politics. He eagerly schemed to replace Roger Taney as chief justice in 1864. And when Lincoln's ultimate choice, Salmon Chase, died in 1873, Swayne willingly joined the resulting scramble for the post again—even though he was almost sixty‐nine years old. Passed over for the appointment, Swayne lingered on the bench until 1881. Only after pressure from his fellow Ohioan President Rutherford B. Hayes and the presidential promise that a close friend, Stanley Matthews, would be appointed in his place did he finally resign, ending a judicial career that had promised much, but produced little.

Jonathan Lurie

Held by the Enemy (1886), a play by William Gillette. [Madison Square Theatre, 70 perf.] When Federal troops capture a Confederate city, Brigade Surgeon Fielding ( Melbourne McDowell) falls in love with a Southern belle, Rachel (in some texts and programs, Eunice) McCreery ( Kathryn Kidder), although she is engaged to Lieutenant Gordon Hayne ( John E. Kellerd). Hayne comes through the lines to spy for the Confederacy and is captured, and Fielding serves as the judge in his court‐martial. Hayne escapes and is shot, playing dead to allow Rachel and her family to carry him to safety. When Fielding recognizes the ploy, Rachel agrees to marry him if he will allow Hayne to escape. Later Hayne returns and forces Fielding to release Rachel from her promise. Although the play now seems merely an effective melodrama, it was long looked upon as the first meritorious drama about the Civil War. It held the stage for nearly a decade.