Lambdin Purdy Milligan | |
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| Born | March 24, 1812 near Saint Clairsville, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | December 21, 1899 (aged 87) |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, farmer |
| Known for | Ex parte Milligan |
Lambdin Purdy Milligan (March 24, 1812 – December 21, 1899) was an American lawyer and farmer who was the subject of Ex parte Milligan 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866), a landmark case by the Supreme Court of the United States. He was known for his extreme opinions on states' rights and his opposition to the Lincoln administration's conduct of the American Civil War.
Believing that the Confederate states of the South had the power under the U.S. Constitution to secede from the Union, Milligan opposed the war to reunite the nation. He became a leader of the secret Order of American Knights (formerly the Knights of the Golden Circle and later the Order of the Sons of Liberty) and advocated violent revolution against the U.S. government. U.S. Army forces arrested him at his home and tried him and other conspirators by military commission for disloyalty and conspiracy. Found guilty, he was sentenced to death. A habeas corpus appeal made its way from the federal circuit court in Indianapolis to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1866 ruled that the application of military tribunals to citizens when civil courts are open and operating was unconstitutional.
Following the Court's ruling on April 3, 1866, Milligan and the others were released from custody. He returned home and practiced law in Huntington, Indiana, where he later filed a civil suit claiming damages for the military arrest and trial. On May 30, 1871, the jury found in Milligan's favor, but federal and state statutes limited the award for damages to five dollars (~$113.00 in 2023) plus court costs.