Historical Courts Martial
Gold's Dragoons holds an annual historical court martial. Gus Niewenhous has been appointed Judge Advocate for the troop and he will be coordinating future events. The evenings are built around a standard mess dinner which will include a historical court martial to be presented at the conclusion of the meal.
The court martial chosen will be an actual historical event at least 100 years old. The identity of the subject of the court martial is sometimes not disclosed until the dinner evening. There will be a court martial president presiding, a prosecutor and, usually, a "prisoner's friend" for the defense. Both the prosecutor and the defense will have ten minutes to state their case, using only accurate court records as their source. At the discretion of the prosecutor and the prisoner's friend, each will then be permitted a two minute rebuttal.
Following the completion of the presentation all diners will constitute the court martial jury and will vote on each of the charges and - if finding for guilt - will also vote on suitable punishment, as well as the possibility of recommending clemency. Diners are specifically asked not to use their smart phones to determine the actual historical result and should rely on the court presentations to make their judgement, using the viewpoint of an officer of that period.
Following the completion of the court martial the actual result is announced and compared with the vote of the diners present.
The first historical court martial of 2025 was a reprise of the court martial we had done for The Military Order of Foreign Wars in Providence back in October, 2024: the court martial of Captain Mackensie, USN, who faced the death penalty for the charge of the unlawful killing of Midshipman Phillip Spencer, son of the Secretary of War, and two others. The Captain sought the court martial to use the legal concept of "double jeopardy" to void a warrant for murder in a civilian Boston court, sworn by the widow of Bosun Cromwell, also hanged by him.
THE FEBRUARY 7TH, 2025, COURT MARTIAL OFFICERS, FROM THE LEFT: TONY O'REGAN, PROVOST MARSHAL, MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, PROSECUTOR, GUS NIEWENHOUS, JUDGE ADVOCATE, FRANK LENNON, PRISIONER'S FRIEND, JOHN CONLIN, PRESENTER, RON BARNES, MESS PRESIDENT
GENTLEMEN AT THE FEBRUARY 2025 COURT MARTIAL FROM THE LEFT: OX GARA, "MR. VICE", RICHARD GREENLACH, TONY O'REGAN, JOHN CONLIN, RON BARNES, BARTON HYTE, ROBERT COLLINS, GUS NIEWENHOUS
THE SECOND BILLY MITCHELL COURT MARTIAL, FEBRUARY 2ND, 2024. FROM THE LEFT: JOHN CONLIN, PRESENTER, , FRANK LENNON, DEFENDER, GUS NIEWENHOUS, JUDGE ADVOCATE, MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, PROSECUTOR AND JOHN GELATI, PROVOST MARSHALL
The first historical court martial of 2024 was a reprise of the court martial we had done for The Military Order of Foreign Wars in Providence back in October, 2023: the court martial of Col. Billy Mitchell. This second version was for The Victorian Military Society mess night in Newport, R.I. In the three months since the last outing the team had done more more research and brought out details that had been missing in the prior October. A dramatic exchange of facts and opinions followed that resulted in an acquittal that horrified the more traditional members of the mess. Order was restored by our very competent Mr. Vice, Ox Gara, under the supervision of the mess president, Ron Barnes. In October , 2024, we presented the court martial of Captain Mackensie, USN, charged with the unlawful killing of Midshipman Spencer, the son of the Secretary of Defense. We repeated that court martial at the VMS on the first Friday of February, the 7th, 2025.
THE BILLY MITCHELL COURT MARTIAL, FROM THE LEFT: JOHN GELATI, PROVOST MARSHALL, JOHN CONLIN, PRESENTER, MARQUE SETEVAGE, "MRS. LANSDOWNE", FRANK LENNON, DEFENDER, GUS NIEWENHOUS, JUDGE ADVOCATE, MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, PROSECUTOR
The 2023 court martial was held at the very impressive Squantum Club of Riverside, near Providence, R. I., under the mess presidency of John Duchesneau, with John Conlin as Mr. Vice. This was the annual mess dinner of the Military Orde of Foreign Wars, Rhode Island chapter. The event, following dinner, was a reconstruction of the trial of Col. Billy Mitchell in 1925, facing the charge of contravening Article 96 of the Articles of War, specifically "conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline". There was spirited sparring between the prosecutor and the defender needing the intervention of the judge advocate on several occasions. The surprise witness was Mrs. Lansdowne (impressively portrayed by Marque Setevage) who may have swayed the jury in the final result. We returned to Rhode Island for the 2024 court martial, on the 23rd of October.
IN THE 2022 COURT MARTIAL GUS NIEWENHOUS ACTS AS THE JUDGE ADVOCATE, COMPLETE WITH JUDGE'S WIG. JOHN CONLIN ACTED AS THE COURT MARTIAL PROSECUTING OFFICER. THE SWORD OF THE OFFICER CHARGED LIES ON THE TABLE. IT WILL BE RETURNED TO HIM IF HE IS ACQUITTED
JOHN CONLIN PRESENTS THE CASE FOR DERELICTION OF DUTY OF THE ACCUSED OFFICER
THE COURT MARTIAL CONCLUDES WITH THE SAME VERDICT AS 1772. FROM THE LEFT, STANDING, MAJ. FRANK LENNON, COMMANDER OF THE RHODE ISLAND COMMANDERY, MILITARY ORDER OF FOREIGN WARS, MRS. CASEY DAHM, RON BARNES (GOLD'S MASTER OF ARMS), JOHN CONLIN, (MESS PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER, GOLD'S DRAGOONS). SEATED, GUS NIEWENHOUS, (JUDGE ADVOCATE, GOLD'S DRAGOONS)
The 2022 court martial was held in the Pot Au Fer, a traditional tavern in Providence, R. I. where a hapless Royal Navy lieutenant was charged with dereliction of duty in the loss of his ship exactly 250 years ago, within a few miles of Providence, in 1772. Gus Niewenhous acted as the Judge Advocate trying the case and mess president, John Conlin acted as the prosecutor. As in the original court martial, the lieutenant did not speak in his own defense and the Providence jury came to the same conclusion as the jury did in 1772. The event was organized by the Military Order of Foreign Wars for their annual mess night and we thank them for their superb organizing skills in choosing such an appropriate venue.
GOLD'S DRAGOONS' JUDGE ADVOCATE, GUS NIEWENHOUS, (CENTER) READS THE COURT MARTIAL CHARGES. MASTER OF HORSE, DAVID LODA (LEFT) - "LATE 14TH LIGHT DRAGOONS" - AS PROSECUTOR, PREPARES HIS CASE TO HAVE THE ACCUSED SHOT. MESS PRESIDENT JOHN CONLIN (RIGHT) - "LATE 95TH RIFLES" - AWAITS HIS OPPORTUNITY AS THE "PRISONER'S FRIEND" TO PLEAD FOR MERCY. THE ACCUSED HAS SURRENDERED HIS SWORD, LAID ON THE TABLE, AND IT WILL BE RETURNED TO HIM IF HE IS ACQUITTED, RETAINED BY THE COURT IF HE IS FOUND GUILTY. NORTH KINGSTON, R.I., MARCH 2019
The 2019 court martial - revisiting a court martial following actions during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 - was held at the mess dinner of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, Rhode Island, in North Kingston, R.I. on Friday, March 29th. The Mess President acted as "Mr. Vice" for the evening. Our Judge Advocate, Gus Niewenhous, Esq., acted as the court martial judge, complete in Gold's mess dress and wearing a British barrister's wig. Our Master of Horse, Dave Loda, acted - with great enthusiasm and drama - as the prosecutor. The mess president acted as the "prisoner's friend", military parlance for the defense, in a rather more nuanced way - faced with the need to defend the scoundrel - but he did win a reduction in punishment from the historical result. M/Sgt John Duchesneau acted as the Clerk of the Court in tallying votes. As part of the mess dinner, our resident "songbird", Miss Gretchen Tucker, reprised her performance at our polo cup final last year by singing the National Anthem a capella. We thank the Military Order of Foreign Wars for hosting the event and making the Gold's Dragoons contingent so welcome.
GOLD'S DRAGOONS COURT MARTIAL PRESENTATION TO THE PRINCETON OFFICERS' CLUB, NASSAU CLUB, PRINCETON, NJ, 2015. FROM THE LEFT, PHILLIP MCINDOO ACTS AS PROSECUTOR, RON ROSNER (STANDING) CLERK OF THE COURT, JOHN CONLIN, COURT MARTIAL PRESIDENT, DON CAREY FOR THE DEFENSE, IN A 19TH CENTURY COURT MARTIAL