Biography
Lewis J. Gergotz was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth; Fort Douglas. Sentenced to 25 years in prison - reduced to 3 years. (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 C.O.; interviewed by the Bd. on Feb. 14, 1919 at the Disciplinary Barracks ; charged with disobedience of orders; sentenced to 25 years in prison - reduced to 3 years; imprisoned in Ft. Douglas War Prison Barracks; a member of the I.W.W.; …
The December 1919 One Big Union Monthly lists him as Louis J. Gergots of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. It records his induction on August 24, 1918, confinement at Camp Lee, Virginia, on August 31, and an October 14, 1918 court-martial for disobeying orders under Article 64. The twenty-five-year sentence was reduced to three years in April 1919; he was among the military prisoners at Fort Douglas.
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.
Sources: Source 1.
The December 1919 One Big Union Monthly lists him as Louis J. Gergots of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. It records his induction on August 24, 1918, confinement at Camp Lee, Virginia, on August 31, and an October 14, 1918 court-martial for disobeying orders under Article 64. The twenty-five-year sentence was reduced to three years in April 1919; he was among the military prisoners at Fort Douglas.
The Fort Douglas photograph identifies him by surname among nine IWW prisoners, supporting the established military-confinement history. A separate report of J. Bauer’s release concerns alien-enemy internees and does not establish this military conscientious objector’s release date. The two legal custody categories are not conflated.
The One Big Union Monthly, June 1920, vol. 2 no. 6, PDF page 38.
