Biography
Rexford Powell was a conscientious objector from Maryland imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Douglas. Sentenced to 15 years in prison, reduced to 2 years. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for draft on June 5, 1917, but draft board would not let him register as a C.O.; arrived at Camp Meade on Nov. 5, 1917 & assigned to Co. I, 313 Infantry; declared a CO on Nov. 9, 1917; interviewed by Bd. on June 6, 1918 at Meade, July 19, 1918 at Leavenworth, and Feb. …
Confirmed Camp Funston guardhouse transfer
The signed report on treatment of conscientious objectors identifies Rexford Powell among those received at the Camp Funston Military Police Guard House on September 5, 1918. This is a confirmed facility receipt, not an independently established new arrest or beginning of all imprisonment. The September 5 and September 27 groups explicitly came from the Fort Riley guardhouse. The October 6 entry names Powell among men dragged into a midnight cold shower. The signatory list supplies the full name Rexford Powell. The report covers events through October 21 but does not supply an individual discharge date. Existing original-admission, release, sentence and total-duration fields are not replaced by this receipt date or calculated from a military sentence.
