The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-07-05
The Returning Masses. 4.

1t is stated, and we presume truly, by
the Philadelphia Gazette, that two hum
bred thousand United States troops
are to be forthwith sent home and mus
tered out of service. These, it is said,
will be mostly from the Western and
Southwestern departments. AS regards
the firstdischarge, now about completed,
a despatch from Washington tells us that
one hundred and fifty thousand men
have been sent home from that city, and
this, with the number now about to be
mustered out, will aggregate three hun
dred and fifty thousand men returnedto
to their homes. If to these We add the
rebel troops surrendered in all parts of
the South, some two hundred thousand
men, we shall have total of five hun
bred and fifty thousand. But thisis not
all. We had in our custodysome sixty
thousand rebel prisoners, all ofwhom are
in process of discharge and transporta-
ton home. AT the lowest estimate the
number of Union prisoners in the South,
who have been returned to their homes
during the last three months, cannot
have been less than twenty thousand, so
that some eighty thousand prisoners,
North and South, are to be added
to the aggregate, which thus reachessix
nuuuTcu duu lnilty tllOuoehei iiSii'
We regret that we have no means of
estimating the number of men dis
charged from arsenals, navy yards, Gov
eminent Workshops and depots the
number of teamsters and other civilian
released from the service in the Quarters
masters Department of the forces in the
field the clerks discharged from Gov
eminent Offices the number of men
discharged from the naval vessels now
out of commission, and the swarms of
officers who, since the termination of the
war, have resigned their commissions
and gone home to devote their attention
to civil pursuits. Taking both sides in
the late conflict, million will hardly
cover the number of men already re-
turned to their homes or thrown upon
the country for support who have lately
been making a living upon the operations
of the war. Large as the aggregate
seems, q careful examination OF the facts
will show that it is no exaggeration.
Where the loss has been so terri BILE
these men will be valuable additions to
the Southern population, provided their
leaders are not allowed toget them astray
again, as they are striving to do in some
quarters. Many who were unused to
work before the war; have been familiar
lied with 1t by sad necessity. They go
home wiser than they were. They have
learned much of the Northern people
thew neverknew before, and having tested
the value of such resources as ours they
will 90 home impressed with the over
need of improvement at the
South.
AS regards our own men, who are
sent home by the return of peace, we do
not entertain such apprehensionsre
ing them, as some do. In the course of
the war we have seen many returned
soldiers quietly pursuing their old avo-
cations with as much sobriety, industry
and application as ever, and there is
hardly large establishment in the city
that has not some one who has not seen
service in this conflict. Some temporary
troubles there will be, and the sharks,
always ready to prey upon the soldier or
sailor, will soon impoverish some of
them. But for the general mass their
old habits of industry will return, and
we are inclined to think that they will |
bear as honorable record in peace as
hey have done in war. Most of them |
ask no charity, no benevolent aid, only |
steady OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Jour
nat