Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1876-09-07

reported to General Crooks head
quarters. His Adjutant General
Captain Botsford, ordered court
martial to meet Immediately. Th
members of the Court were proba
bly, all from my brigade, but l wa
not on the Court, and had nothing t.
do with it, as | now remember. Tn,
man was tried, found guilty, and sen
fenced to be shot He confessed thai
after his escape, in May, 1864, III
went down the Kanawha to Ohio, anG
became a bounty jumper; that ht
had received bounties number ol
times from localities and individuals
and had afterwards deserted. Ht
was prevented from doing it on this
occasion by recent order which re
quired that recruits should be re
ceipted for at their regiments before
they were paid their bounties. He
had about $400 in money received fol
bounties he had jumped and also two
watches. He had no family or neal
relatives unless his mother was liv-
ing, whom he had not seen for some
years, and whose residence he could
not tell.
After the trial, members of the
court martial, on talkingit over, con-
cluded that as the money of the de-
serter had been received from locali-
ties or individuals to furnish a sol
dier to the Twenty third Regiment,
that it ought to be used to get an
other recruit for the same regiment,
and that it should be delivered to the
proper officer for that purpose. In
all this I concurred, and l have al
ways supposed that this was accord
ingly done with the money. have
often told the story of this deserter.
1t being interesting on account of its
condolences, and have always spo-
ken of the money found on his per-
son as being used to get recruit for
the Twenty third Regiment in his
place. The regiment received many
recruits after that time, and / have
always believed that one Of them
was obtained with this money. Mr..
Harper says an orderly came from me
after him, and that, at my headquar
ters. he gave up the money in the
presence of Colonel Comfy. We were
then in the midst of the busiest year
of the war, and just entering upon
one of its most exciting campaigns
Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley cam
paign. l have no reason to think
Mr.. Harper either kept, used, or in
any way misappropriated this money,
but / have no recollection of ever hav--
ing received it. know l never used
it, or appropriated it to my own use.
If it was handed to me it was imme
diately--then and there-turned over
to the proper officer, to obtain anoth
er man in place of the deserter. Ma
jor E. NJ. Carey, formerly of the
Twenty-third Regiment, now residing
at Manchester, Ohio, writes to me as
follows: "My understanding at the
time was that the money found upon
his person (the deserter) was left in
the hands of the Judge Advocate of
the Court, and by him was to be
turned over to the Quartermaster or
Provost Marshal for recruiting pur-
poses" However this may be, GER
tain it is, l never kept or misappro-
priated this money"
Could anything be more explicit
than the above, and after reading it
can any one for moment doubt its
truth?
AS it yet required another piece to
make this triangle of evidence COM
plete, General Comfy was asked to
furnish the requisite piece, and this
is what he said:
GEN. ]. NJ. CoMLY's STATEMENT
l have listened carefully to the
statement of Chaplain Harper. His
appearance and manner convinced
me that he was telling the story ac-
cording to his recollection. | do not
believe he appropriated that money
to his own use; yet without intend
ing to express any doubt as to any
thing else than the accuracy of his
recollection, am compelled to differ
with him in my recollection as to ma
terial points. The man who was shot
was rebel spy first, and afterwards
deserter, an escaped prisoner, again
a spy, bounty jumper, and the rob-
her of his comrades in the regiment.
The circumstances as to the trial and
conviction, and the character of the
man were known substantially to the
whole command. |. Chaplain Har-
per's statement is, that the man was
shot along toward noon; my recollec-
tion is that it was at sundown or
near dark. 2. The Chaplain says he
handed the roll of bills to General
Hayes about noon, and in broad day
light, within ten or fifteen minutes
not to exceed half an hour-after the |
execution of the spy. My informa-
tion is that it was so near dark at the
time Of the execution that "the guns
made a FASH" and that the burial of
the body Immediately afterward had |
to be done with lighted lanterns. DR.. |
Barrett, who had charge, so reports
to me. 8. The chaplain reports that
1 was present when he gave the mon
ey to General Hayes. My recollec-
tion is as clear as it is of any event |
of my life, that never was present |
at such q transaction, and that, owing
to circumstances clearly within my |
recollection, ! could not have been
present at the time mentioned. These
circumstances are as follows: ! was
Lieutenant Colonel. commanding the |
regiment at the time, / was ordered
to conduct the execution. Although |
l felt perfectly clear that the man
ought to be shot, the duty was so re-
voting to me that l worried myself
sick over it. The Surgeon visited me