Biography
John Y. Miller was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Kansas imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for the draft on June 5, 1917 as a CO; interviewed by the Special Bd. on charge of disobedience of orders on Sept. 26, 1918 at Ft. Riley; was not offered a farm furlough; sentenced to 25 years in prison; sent to Leavenworth on Nov. 13, 1918; courts-martial #122368
1920s custody review: The source entry identifies 1917 only as a tentative draft year, not prison admission. It records a September 26, 1918 Fort Riley interview and transfer to Leavenworth on November 13, 1918, court-martial 122368. The imported 1917 incarceration year is removed. Transfer does not establish the beginning of all detention, and no exact admission is inferred. The inherited 1920 release year still requires independent verification; Yoder leaves the release field blank. No identifiable photograph was established.
Source: Anne M. Yoder conscientious-objector database, John Y. Miller entry. The local original import mapped the draft year into incarceration; the source columns were checked separately.
