The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-01-13
DEsERTIONS FROM OUR ARMY.
How the New England Quotas
IL are Filled. ,,i'g'g'[
Execution OF Deseriers---Bounty
Jumpinx..-The RnOrmtty Of
2.- the Rvil. G. c'i.. p
Correspondence Of the N. Y. Times.
NV poyr Va Tao 9

dogs, IN presence OF tleIr COnrdueS IN the
army, for the crime of desertion but
good and loyal people, everywhere, would
be Mortified beyond measure, if they only
knew through what hideous mass Of pec-
ulation and corruption, among officials in
position of trust, the fate of each of
these miserable wretches has culminat-
ed at the gallows. Thousands of those
who are cheerfully pouring out their money.
like wster for the vigorous prosecution of
the war, and fondly imagining that all is
going on correctly, will scarcely be induced
to credit the enormity of the evil that has,
at this late hour, reluctantly compelled the
Lieutenant General Commanding to COM
mence that rigid course of punishment
which it is to be hoped he will not now re-
lax, until the army is thoroughly purged of
the villainons distemper with which 1t has
been go wickedly and willfully innocdlated.
But, impressive as these horrible execu-
tions may be, it is to be feared thata COM
plete cure must be sought deeper yet, and
that no remedy can possibly BE found ef-
fectual which does not strike at the utter
uprooting of the ridiculous system of subj
stitutes and large bounties which has be-
come 30 prevalent Of late, or, at any rate,
80 to modify and guard tie working Of the
system that it shall no longer prove the
source of disgrace, paralysis and demorali-
zation to,oIr armies, which it unquestiOp-
ably has been ever since it began.
We hear Of the President calling for a
force of several hundred thousand men.
The papers tell Us gleefally of the rapidity
with which ehrollments are taking place;
presently we hear every town and village
Boosting that it has " filled its quota? Z"
but ,ohere are The soldiers 4 The bounty
money has been paid, the men enrolled,
we will suppose, but aohere are they?
That is the question: question, too,
fraught with such momentous interest to
the nation, that it is to be hoped every
loyal voice will keep shouting it at Con-
gress until onr lawgivers feel the necessity
of looking into it more narrowly. Let
people go and inquire of these noble fell
lows fighting in the field, and they will
soon learn what has become of many of
these dearly-purchased men in buckram-
costing something like one thousand dol
lars each before they have lifted finger
| in return.
ms Ill lllustIHtiOu VI HOW SOlsiC vi tUttIl
disappear, here is the record of one single
regiment among those that have come to
my notice: Of three detachments of sub
stitutes sent from Concord, N. H., to join
the 9th N. 81. Vols, amounting to 625
men, 1877 deserted on the passage! leav-
ing on 4SS to arrive at the regiment. OF
the 4Ss who got to the regiment, and were
assigned to companies, SO deserted to the
enemy from picket line; So deserted to
the rear; have been discharged as ut
terly worthless, their physical incapacity
being so glazing, and OF such long stand
ing, that they must have been known at
the time Of enlistment; have been sent
back to Concord to have their cases of
enlistment Investigated, by order of the
War Department; and have been dis
charged by order of the War Department.
Thus, out of $50 of these bounty attempted
warriors sent to one regiment, only since
August last, there are only $50 left and,
and, as these have come to the army
through the same venal influences, and
probably gone through the same loose or
fraudulent examination, it is impossible to
tell how many more may follow suit, in
spite of the death penalty before them
use the term fraudulent advisedly for,
out of the four discharged as utterly
worthless, one man had one leg several
inches shorter than the other; one bad
hernia that had made him cripple for
several years past; and the two others
were such impracticable imbecies, that
any imbecile, without one particle of
medical knowledge, must have seen at a
glance that they were utterly incapable of
any duty whatever, mental or physical.
These are shameful revelations, but the
sooner the public are made acquainted
with the existence of such monstrous
abuses, the sooner do we stand chance
of seeing them rectifed.
. And what painful but unjust stigma is
cast upon the fair name of many a noble
veteran regiment, by having these vaga-
bonds foisted upon them, like rotten sheep
turned in to pollute goodly flock. Ipre-
sumo that all of our fine regiments, more
or less, have received q portion of the
faint, but have heard ofnone which have
suffered more by it than that famous old
Irish regiment the Goth New York, from
whom thirty deserted in one night; and
the 9th New Hampshire, to which belong
ed the three men executed on Friday last.
Of the latter must say few words, for
while no regiment has suffered more-per-
haps so much-by the abuses inevitably
attending the substitute and bounty sys-
tenn, there is not one which, from the
commencement of the war to the present
time, has justly earned more brilliant
and noble. record. l write feelingly and
knowingly on this subject, for | had the
pleasure of being well acquainted with the
commander of this regiment, Col. Edward |
E. Gross, who met a glorious death at
Gettysburg, and Drawer heart than his
never throbbed under the uniform of An |
officer of the United States.
What must be the feelings of such a
man, and of the gallant fellows who have
shared so many dangers and glories with /
him, to find the dearly learned fame of that |
regiment at last becoming furnished, BY |