Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-01-13
The Recruits Furnished from thc
East 10 she Army.

The Recruits Furnished from tihc
East 10 she Army.
The New York Times OF the 9th inst.
comments on passage In a letter from its
City Point correspondent which says:
.of the three tletachments of substitutes
sent from Concord, N. H., 10 join the Fifth
New Hampshire Volunteers, amounting to
625 men, 1877 deserted nthe passage, leaving
only 4SS to arrive at the regiment. VI the
4SS who got to the regiment and were as
signed to companits s, 81 deserted TO the enc
my from picket line; 36 deserted to the
rear; have been discharged as utterly
worthless, their physical capacity being, so
Qlaring, and of such long standing, that
they must have been known at the time OF
enlistment; 4 have been sent back to
Concord to have their cases of enlistment
investigated, by order of the War Depart
ment; and have been discharged by order
of the War Department. Thus, out OF 62o
OF these bounty-tempted warriors sent to
one regiment only since August last, there
are only $50 left; and, as these have come
to the army through the same yenal infiu-
ences, and probably gone through the same
loose or fraudulent examination, 1t Is inn
possible to tell how many more may follow
suit, in spite of the death penalty before
them"
The Times asserts:
"The testimony of officers in the Army
of the Potomac and of the James Is all but
unanimous in affirming tfat a somewhat
similar story may be told of the quotas
sent forward from vast number OF places
in the Eastern States. A very large proper
ton of the substitutes are wretched vaga-
bonds, depraved in morals or decrepid In
body, without courage or self-respect or
conscience; and so far from adding to the
strength of the army they weaken it, and
greatly increase the labor and anxiety OF
the officers. They desert when put OH
picket duty, they skulk in action, and are
dirty, disorderly, thievish, and incapable in
camp, and pass most of their time on bar
rels, tied up to trees, or bucked and gag
ged."
Who would believe, out here in the West,
that the eastern Warites, who affect the in
tensest loyalty, would be guilty OF sending
into the Army "a very large proportion OF
substitutes who are wretched vagabonds,
depraved in morals or decrepid in body,
without courage or self-respect or con-
science?" Yet The New York Times, an
Administration paper Of the first water,
says that this is absolutely true; and being
true, the conclusion follows that depravity
In morals is not characteristic of the
South alone, and that New England cler-
gymen evidently have at home work re-
quiring their special attention, instead of
bestowing their whole time to denouncing
the slave-institutiUn of the South. Evil
IDENTIFY while they have been haranguing
against this institution, in their own midst
there have grown up "wretched vaga-
bonds, depraved in morals" "without cour-
age or self-respect or conscience" This
class of individuals are pronounced as un-
fit for the army, and The Times is very
positive that 'the Surgeons who assist in,"
'.and the Supervisors, Select-men and Pro-
vost Marshals who wink att "and the indi-
viduals" who are guilty of sending them
into the army "are worse, and far meaner
and more despieable traitors, than JEFF.
DAVIS or any of his followers; and we have
no hesitation in saying that there are num-
bers of men at work to-day with ball and
a chain to their legs, who deserve their fate
far less than the persons who are thus in
strumentalin defrauding our soldiers of the
help which is their due"
The Times thinks "Congrcss will only do
its duty, ifit at once amends the Enrolment
Act, by adding provision making each
principal liable for the physical or moral
defects of his substitute, and forcing every
body who sends cripple, or an idiot, or
diseased man, or drunkard, or black
guard of a pronounced type, to the army
as his representative, to take his place, on
the discovery and proof of the fact"
Perhaps such an amendment might be
salutary in producing more extended and
widespread feeling touching the propriety
of resorting to wise and conciliatory states
manship to bring the War to its termina-
ton. '....-t-.- ..-.--. .-...--...