The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1865-02-08

they pass this place, borne by the iro
horse, will gaze with reverence and aw
upon the spot where the bloody scene wa
enacted. l.. N.
How Quotas are Filled.
Brig. Generate G. w. Kinks, of the U
s. A. in command ofrccruiting rendezvou
Hants island, near New York, has recentl,
addressed an interesting letter to the Adj
General, respecting the recruiting ant
bounty system. His statements will seen
incredible only to those who have not hat
opportunities of knowing how the recruit
ing business has been carried on. Th
swindle-on the government and people hal
been unprecedented. Gen. HlNKs says:
Felony is compounded and crime con
doned by magistrates, that criminals may
be sent into the army to stain its fair fame
imperil its success, and dishonor its faith
iul soldiers, or desert its banners to joi1
the enemy, enlist again in some othe
locality, consummating double fraud-al
to all the quotas.
Drunkards, useless for any purposes G
life, are suborned to defraud the govern
ment and country, by enlisting as soldiers
to fill the quotas.
Rebel spies, refugees, and fugitives from
justice, are assisted to enlist in our armies
from which they pass with we'll filled
pockets directly into the Confederacy-but
it fills the quotas.
Imbecilies and lunatics are cajoled to
enlist, and defrauded Of their bounty by
designing knaves, but no one appears to
Objection it fills the quotas.
Men cooped up, drusged, or stupefied
with intoxicating liquors, and coerced to
enlist under assumed names, which often.
times they themselves are unable to
remember, and no one detects the fraud
until they became sobered at the general
rendezvous, because every one is entirely
engrossed-in filing the quotas.
Soldiers from our armies are assisted, il
not persuaded, to desert, and are concealed
until they can be conducted to some
remote locality to enlist again, by the ex.
tensive combination Of runners and
brokers whose connections ramify the
whole country to such an extent that a
regular system is created Of depicting our
armies to fill the quotas.
Boys, whose immaturity, and old men
whose senility unfit them for the duties Of
a soldier cripples and invalids, unable to
perform the slightest degree of manual
labor, are openly persuaded, or deceived
into enlisting, by representing to them that
they can be credited to a sub district, gel
the local bounty, and will be rejected when
they arrive at the general renderzvous
and in many cases the town or county
agent, broker, runner, and recruit, combine
in the employment of every artifics to con.
cea! the defects and i1capacity Of the
recruit before enlistment, and after the
credit has been obtained and the bounty
divided, assist him to magnify his disabili.
ties and wrongs, that he may be discharged
and they permitted to use him again--tC
fill up the quotas.
ending Dec. 81, 1854, forty fivs recruit:
were discharged upsn examination by s
Board Of inspectors" for utter worthless
ness, to wit: seventeen for iIpmaturity
three for old age, seven for chronic diseases
two for deformities, three for hernia, eigh
for epilepsy, three for asthma, an: two fol
insanity. A large number Of others were
for similar causes, evidently unfit for th'
duties Of a soldier. in active service, bu
were retained and sent to their regiments
because it was probable they might be o
some service to the Government in son'
capacity, and to prevent their again enlist
ing to fill some quota.
From long and varied experience will
the class of recruits obtained under tn
present system, and from close persona
observation at recruiting officers, muster
ing offices and general rendezvous and il
the field, of the operations Of the system
during the last eighteen months, | an
convinced that fully three fourths Of al! IN
enormous contributions Of States, countie
and towns fer local bounties, &C., goe
directly into the hands of the agent, broker
middle man, runner, or deserter, and no
more than one fourth is ever received b.
soldiers who render bona tide service i
the armies of the nation, and from pract
cal tests in the localities where have ha
experience, it is evident that scarcely NOR
than fifty per cent of the number of n
cruits credited to districts becoming etfcc,
i've soldiers in the army.