Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-01-09
AoooUSrs of executions for G,esertion are

AoCoUHTs of executions for desertion are
quite frequent of late Army correspond
ents say that the rigid enforcement of this
extreme penalty has been too long delayed,
Bouuty-jumpiug had become quite too easy
business, and one of these fellows who
was shot at indianapolis the other day,
boasted that he had received thirty bonn
ties. In his single case the Government
had been cheated of thirty recruits, and
the people of some $4,000. But quite as
great an evil resulting from the sending of
these worthless substitutes to the front, to
desert to the enemy, or sneak to the rear
at the first sign of danger, is the demorali.
zing effect they have upon the yeterans.-
The old soldiers feel insulted and humilia-
ted by receiving such riff.raff into their
ranks. The 9Th New Hampshire, which
has honorable record, is suffering. from
this clase of recruits, ofwhich New Hamp-
shire has sent an extraordinary proportion
into the army. Several deserters from this
regiment were shot last week. The cor
respondent of the New York Times, giving
an account of the affair, says:-
"0f three detachment of substitutes sent
from Concord, NH, to join the 9th New
Hampshire volunteers, amounting to 625
men, 1873 deserted on the passage, leaving
only 488 to arrive at the regiment. Ofthe
488 who got to the regiment and were as
signed to companies, 80 deserted to the
enemy from picket line; SO deserted to the
rear; 4 have been discharged as utterly
worthless, their physical incapacity being
so glaring, and of such long standing, that
it must have been known at the time of en-
listment, have been sent back to Con-
cord to have their cases of enlistment in
vestigated, by order of the war department.;
and have been discharged by order of the
war department. Thus, out of 625 of these
bountyntemptedi warriors sent to one reg
menE only since August last, there a re-
only 359 left; and, as these have come to
the army through the same loose OF fraud
ulent examination, it is impossible to tell
how many more may follow suit, in spite of
the death penalty before them.
"Will it be blieVed when tell you that
substitute brokers, aided, of course, by
boards of enrolment, examining physi-.
clans, &C., (without whose guilty coRni-l
vance they could not act,) have had the.
Rudacity to send as recruits to our army,
cripples from birth; men partially blind;
idiots from town farms; people with hernia
of long standing, puny boys of fourteen!
or fifteen; men being constantly claimed as
subjects of other governments, graduates
from the FiVe:POints of New York., escaped
prisoners from the Dry Tortugas; rebel ad.
Venturers from Canada and elsewhere;'
some who have suffered by years of par
alysis, and hundreds who cannot under
stand one word of the English language,
and whom it ia, of course, impossible to
drill and instruct in the duties of SOL
der? Indeed, it is Ito be feared that a
large portion of the, deserters from the
rebel army, attracted by the largo bounties
offered, form no small part of the bounty
jumping element among. u.s."
This statement does not exaggerate the
facts. The need of some remedy is evil
dent enough. The substitute system can
not be abolished altogether, but Congress-
and the war department should devote
some attention to, the erection of new safe
guards or the rigid enforcement of such
as already exist. The President may call
for half million fresh men, every six
months, and get them, on paper, but our
armies will only grow weaker in numbers
and in character, unless this evil can be
corrected.