Horace Heffren

Horace Heffren (May 27, 1831 – May 20, 1883) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, soldier, and politician active in Salem, Washington County, Indiana. A Democrat, he served briefly as lieutenant colonel of the 50th Indiana Infantry Regiment early in the American Civil War before resigning in 1862. He is best remembered as a leader of the Copperhead secret society the Order of the Sons of Liberty in Indiana, and as a defendant in the 1864 Indianapolis treason trials who avoided prosecution by turning state's evidence—the proceedings that produced the landmark Supreme Court case Ex parte Milligan.

Early life and career Heffren was born in Tompkins County, New York, on May 27, 1831, a son of Elijah Heffren, who about 1845 moved his family to a farm near Salem in Washington County, Indiana. His mother was a sister of Cyrus L. Dunham, making Heffren a nephew of the future colonel and congressman. A younger brother, Delos Heffren, also became a prominent—and notorious—figure in the county.

Civil War service Heffren entered Union service on July 4, 1861, and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 50th Indiana Infantry Regiment, organized at Seymour under his uncle, Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham; the regiment's camp of organization, Camp Heffren, was named for him. He served about nine months before resigning his commission on September 7, 1862; Stevens wrote that he gave it up in opposition to the emancipation of enslaved people. After military authorities arrested Dodd for treason in September 1864, they arrested Heffren at Salem—along with Milligan, Bowles, Humphreys, Stephen Horsey, and Democratic state chairman Joseph J. Bingham—on October 5–7, 1864.

The charges against Heffren were dropped, and he became a witness for the prosecution, making a full confession of his connection with the Sons of Liberty; he was acquitted and sent home. The military commission's conviction of the remaining defendants was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Ex parte Milligan (1866).

Later life and death After the war Heffren returned to law, politics, and journalism at Salem. Writing for the Salem Democrat in the 1870s, he gathered old-time recollections from the county's pioneer settlers—work later collected as Pioneer Pickings—preserving much of Washington County's early history. He died at Salem on May 20, 1883, and was buried there in Crown Hill Cemetery.