Biography
Jesse Cover was a World War I conscientious objector who refused military service and was court-martialed and confined at the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas. When the U.S. Army's Board of Inquiry examined him at Fort Leavenworth on January 4–5, 1919, it concluded that he was a sincere conscientious objector who would have qualified for a furlough.
Jesse J. Cover was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from California imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 28 years in prison. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: sent to Camp Cody; camp psychologist, Moore, listed him as a “fanatic; apparently sincere”; court-martialed & sentenced to 28 years in prison; imprisoned at Ft. Leavenworth on June 29 (or as early as June 24 or late as July 15); had a grade 8 education; 22 years old on May 4, 1918
Custody record
The cited World War I archival record does not establish a one-day imprisonment. The imposed sentence and the period actually spent in custody are different; no exact duration is recorded here unless supported by custody records.
The source gives conflicting June 24, June 29 and July 15 admission dates, followed by January 1919 release. It supports a longer period of custody but not one exact start day. The nearly empty second case is not proof of another imprisonment.
