Biography
Walter Sprunger (January 1, 1889 - October 15, 1918) was a Mennonite from Adams County, Indiana, who refused military service on religious grounds.
On October 4, 1918 he and three other Mennonite conscientious objectors were court-martialled for their nonresistant refusal to obey military orders and sent to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Contemporary Indiana reporting gives his sentence as ten years; the prison register identifies him as number 14720.
HE DIED IN CUSTODY OF INFLUENZA ON OCTOBER 15, 1918, eleven days after admission. There was no release.
His offence was military refusal to obey orders as a conscientious objector. An earlier version of this record carried a generic federal Espionage or Sedition Act charge, which does not describe his case.
