The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-03-31
FOR the Free Trader.
TO THE PEOPLE OFF SIil.l.E,
COUNTY.


As .be Board Of Supervisors, at their las.
session, February 1866, rassed resolution.
whereby they recommended that the matter
Of equalization of bounties 10 the soldiers of
the county be brought before the people at
<he next annual town meetings for action
thereon. ard ih soldiers, in convention,
March 22d. 1866, By resolution passed the
same, agreed thereto. it is desired, in order
that you may vote undcrstandingly, TO lay
before yor- briefly, the records of the pro-
seedings OF your supervisors during the war,
IN relation to bouuties, and other matters
pertaining 10 the interest of the soldiers :;
and, m da,ng this. We ask careful, candid
cxapina3Gl ef the same. feeling confident
when you have dane this, you will readily
admit the justice uf our claim. as well as
learn that all through the war your super
visors have placed you in glarngly false
position and it will devolve si,Ou YOU to say
whether those who represented you in the
army, who. early and late bere the burden
'ot the s.or,u, shall be denied esIat which they
nav Of right demand. or will listen to this
petition aud provide some means whereby
this claim may be satisfactorily adj Hustled.
The first attempt at !. bounty was by the ci;i-
=ens et Ottawa, who undertook 10 furnish tie
Grst companies that left for the war with
uniform. and in this they but in part sue
ceedea, for there were many who enlisted
TINS early who did not receive the same;
and. in view of this fact, tie supervisors Of
the county took the matter into their hands,
and thus relieved tie citizens of 0n--a ot
This generously planned labor. 1t now be
came apparent to the board that the design
CT providing uniform for every soldier
could not be carried out, and, that no inius-
sice might be done in the premises, they
concluded to give tie sum of eight dolllrs
TO those who did not receive the Uniform. in
lieu of the same; and, TO this end rass-d
resolution giving this gum to the first one
thousand who should enlist from the county.
which was sub equentiy changed. by a reso-
luton, whereby they promised to pay said
sum of money to all who should enlist prior
to the twentieth of August iS6l. Hence the
we'll known eight dollar bounty; ard We be,
lieve that the provisions Of those resolutions
have been faithfully carried out, and the
money paid in all instances wlere The evi
dcnce of cnistments and credits presented
TO the war fund committee have been suf-
cent to show the party entitle. to receive IT,
But the expense attending the distribution Of
this bountr. or the money thus paid Out, does
not come from the treasury of La Sale com
.y. for the State ia turn assumed this burden,
Sno the General Government, no doubt. pays
the bill Our next boUutIes were i'll the
mer Of 1862 Then the beard. by rcsou-
.itn, made al appropriation Of sixty thousand
dollars, the wherewith TO give to the first one
thousand men who should enlist from the
county under that call for troops, the sum of
sixty dollars each as bounty. This meas
are, We have been tod, was adopted because
other counties around were giving bOunties,
and La Sale county could do nothing less;
and, from the best information we can OBJ
tam, satisfied that this bounty was
duly paid out In accordance with the proyi-
sion of the act creating it, the larger portion
10 the 10Th. and the balance to .cruiJs and
companies then being orgaEized here. short
iy after this another resolution passed the
board. in the words as follows.
Resolrsd. That sum not exceeiirg three
thousand dollars be appropriated to furnish
bounty of sixty dollars to each of those
recruits Of this county who have volunteered
under the late call to lill up any organization
originally got up in this county, said funds
to be raised in the same manner as the bonn
sIes fer the Thousand volunteers, and
under the control of the same war fund
committee.
Now, that this additional sum OF money
eas sser raised, and, if So, what disposition
Wss ever made of il, are, vet, unable
to learn, and old members OF the board are
likewise groping in conjecture with regard to
Is, for they cannot tell, and the records in re-
satiou TO the same are silent.
The next move in the bounty line was
upon the night of the 3lst of December 1868.
when the supervisors passed the following
resolution:
L.>solcel, That bounty of 800 be paid
by this county to each able-bodied volunteer.
to the number not exceeding four hund: ed.
whe shall enlist anG be mustered into :he
service of the United States, and be credited
to the county of La Sale on her quota under
the last call Of the President of the United
States, from this time to the 5th day of JAM
unry next.
BY this resolution q direct. unqualified
promise was made to pay one hundred dol
lars to Ell who should enlist Ito the NJ nbcr
of four hundred,) be mustered in, and cred
itet. To the county of La Sale, during the
neNt five Iav>. Vow. it will be remembered
b. all, that 4 storm Of almost unparalleled
severity ragged during nearly ne whole OF
there FIVE days, ard So blocking the roads
With snow as, for the time, 10 render them
impossible; in tact, few of the supervisors
were able TO reach their homes to tell ,heil
constituents of the resolution that had pass
ed before the five days had expired. The
consequence was, that in the whole count
not one enlis.ed under lis PROV :an. True
it is, that there werc aooul i'sr-,T iHs',i. who
had previously been ENLISTED, and were
awaiting the action Of the board before Dc
termining their credits, and who, after th,
passage of this act, fixed their credits to l.;
SAlle county, but were not mustered IN unti
some time after the allotted time had passed
These men, defining the resolution strictly
were not legally entitled to the bounty, il
this that they were tnot mustered in unit
after the time for so doing had passed still
the bounty was paid to them But durinl
this time, there were in the field a number o
men re>enlisting for new term of service
And who did so re-enist, and were mustered
in AID credited to the county of La Sale
during those identical five days, and in ever
respect come clearly under the provisions q
the act; yet none of these ever received tn
bounty promised by the same; and now, ca
there be good and sufficient reason assign
cd for the refusal to pay those veterans
Was the now stale plea of heavy indebted
ness employed to justify the same? Not a
all, for at that time the only Indebtedness wa
that arising from the sixty dollar bount,
which we might say was, comparatively
very small. Was it alleged that there wa
no justice in the claim None dare to asse,
this. for the men who presented them wer
from the red fields of the South, WHERE fo
three long weary years: they had stood a
your representatives, in the very front O