Stephen Johnson Field

Born in Haddam, Connecticut, he was the sixth of the nine children of David Dudley Field I, a Congregationalist minister, and his wife Submit Dickinson, a teacher. His family produced three other children of major prominence in 19th century America: David Dudley Field II the prominent attorney, Cyrus Field the millionaire investor and creator of the Atlantic Cable, and Rev. Henry Martyn Field a prominent clergyman and travel writer. He grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and went to Turkey at thirteen with his sister Emilia and her missionary husband, Rev. Josiah Brewer. He received a B.A. from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1837. While attending Williams College he was one of the original Founders of Delta Upsilon fraternity. After reading law in Albany with Harmanus Bleecker and New York City with his brother David, Stephen was admitted to the bar. He practiced law with David until 1848, when he went to California during the Gold Rush.[1]

Field was an uncle of future Associate Justice David Josiah Brewer. Other notable relatives include Paul Stephen Field and legal scholar Anne Field.

In California, Field's legal practice boomed and he was elected alcalde, a form of mayor and justice of the peace under the old Mexican rule of law, of Marysville (curiously, he was elected Alcalde just three days after his arrival in Marysville).[2] Because the Gold Rush city could not afford a jail, and it cost too much to transport prisoners to San Francisco, Field implemented the whipping post, believing that without such a brutal implement many in the rough and tumble city would be hanged for minor crimes. The voters sent him to the California State Assembly in 1850 to represent Yuba County, but he lost a race the next year for the State Senate. His successful legal practice led to his election to the California Supreme Court in 1857, serving six years.[3]

Field was difficult and vengeful when others disagreed with him, and he easily made enemies. An opponent of his wrote that Field's life would be "found to be one series of little-mindedness, meanlinesses, of braggadocio, pusillanimity, and contemptible vanity."[4]

While serving on the California Supreme Court, Field had a special coat made with pockets large enough to hold two pistols so that he could fire the weapons inside the pockets.[5] In 1858 he was challenged to a duel by a fellow Judge (William T. Barbour) but at the dueling ground, neither man fired his gun.[6]

In 1859 Field replaced the former chief justice of the California Supreme Court, David S. Terry, because Judge Terry killed a United States Senator from California (David Colbreth Broderick) in a duel and left the state.[7] Field and Terry's paths crossed again 30 years later when Field, acting in his capacity as a circuit judge of the 9th Federal Circuit Court, ruled against Terry in a convoluted divorce case (and had him sent to jail for contempt of court as well). Seeking revenge, Terry attempted to kill Field in 1889 near Stockton, California, but was instead shot dead by Justice Field's bodyguard, U.S. Marshal David B. Neagle. Ironically, legal issues arising from the killing of Mr. Terry came before the Supreme Court in the 1890 habeas corpus case of In re Neagle.[8] To no one's surprise, the Supreme Court ruled the Attorney General of the United States had authority to appoint U.S. Marshals as bodyguards to Supreme Court Justices and Marshal Neagle had acted within the scope of his authority in shooting former Judge Terry.

Stephen Johnson Field

On March 6, 1863, Abraham Lincoln appointed Field to the newly created tenth Supreme Court seat,[lower-alpha 1] to achieve both regional balance (he was a Westerner) and political balance (he was a Democrat, albeit a Unionist one). The appointment would also give the court someone familiar with real estate and mining issues. Field was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 1863, and received his commission the same day. He was sworn in May 20, 1863.

Justice Field's aspirations to become Chief Justice went unfulfilled, as he had made many enemies both political and personal.[9] During his circuit court rounds in 1889, he was assaulted at age 73 in a train station in Lathrop, California (by a former Chief Justice of California who was shot dead by Field's bodyguard, U.S. Marshal Neagle), which led to the 1890 U.S. Supreme Court decision In re Neagle in which Field abstained.[10]

Field insisted on breaking John Marshall's record of thirty-four years on the court, even though he was not able to handle the workload. His colleagues asked him to resign due to his being intermittently senile[11] but he refused, staying on until 1897. Field would become the last veteran of both the Taney Court and the Chase Court to remain on the bench. He would remain the longest serving member of the Court until his record was surpassed by Associate Justice William O. Douglas, who served from 1939 to 1975. He lived only two years more, dying in Washington, D.C., and was buried there in the Rock Creek Cemetery.[12][13]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Stephen Johnson Field

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Field, Stephen Johnson.

• Oyez Project, Official Supreme Court media, Stephen Johnson Field.
• Stephen Johnson Field at PBS
• Stephen J. Field at Supreme Court Historical Society.
• Works by Stephen Johnson Field at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Stephen Johnson Field at Internet Archive
• Guide to the Stephen Johnson Field Letters Addressed to Him, 1862-1896. at The Bancroft Library
• Past & Present Justices. California State Courts.