Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-12-09
TRAGIC INCIDENT OF THE WAR.

i Desertions were frequent In the Union
army from the very first; but many of
these were only partial, as where man,
displeased with his officers or surroundings,
took q French furlough" and enlisted
again with another regiment that he fancied
would suit him better. But even from the
| first there were desertions to the enemy.
; Among the deserters from one company
/ that the writer knows of, at least FIVE up
to the end of 1862 have always been sup
posed TO have gone over to the confederates;
| two of them very likely were spies-one
certainly vas. Very soon after the army
began to be supplied by CONSUMPTION deser-
| ton increased rapidly. While in the lines
at Cold Harbor in June, 1864, the writer
was sent back to receive detachment of
recruits for his regiment. Their muster
| roll named 210 men, but the officer tenn
| porarily in charge of them had but ninety
to show; the rest had disappeared. The
officer to whom these men had first been
committed had also disappeared. But
though he was soon found and his story OF
having been attacked, overpowered and
robbed by guerillas was disbelieved and he
was sent to States prison, nothing was ever
again seen of the missing 120 recruits. AT
the time of his mysterious disappearance
the officer had in his possession several
thousand dollars belonging to the recruits
he was bringing from Washington. This
was never recovered, it seems.
| That was an extraordinary case. But,
though men did not usually desert ct the
| ratio OF 120 to 2i0, the desertions became
enormous by the middle of 1868, and Gen
eral Meade insisted on tho enforcement of
| the extreme penalty, which good-na-
tured President Lincoln had been commut-
| ing as often as he could. The great boun-
| ties, averaging S7OO apiece, were the cause
of the trouble. But looking back at the
matter now one would say that those sub
stitute brokers who organized the system of
professional desertion in order to divide the
fraudulently obtained advance bounties with
the deserters ought to have been dealt at
| least as harshly with as the deserters them
selves.
In September, 1868, the Third Division OF
| the Second Corps, in camp near the Rapidan
River. had its first execution. There were
two condemned both bounty Jumpers"
who bad enlisted in regiment of this divl
sion and had escaped after receiving the ad-
vance bounty, hoping probably to repeat
| the game with some other regiment Early
one fine afternoon the division marched out
to the chosen ground and formed three sides
of hollow square, the fourth side being
little ridge. At the foot OF the ridge were
two open graves about twelve feet apart
The division, consisting OF about 5000 men,
rested in place until the notes of the dead
march were heard. Attention !" was
sounded by the bugles, aud all was rigid
silence as a procession, composed OF the
provost-guard surrounding two alnhulances
| &c, &c hn 1pr
| q rough coffin, entered the square. at one OF
the angles and halted near the graves. a
coffin was placed at the end OF each grave
and the two deserters we're made 10 stand
up in front of the provost-guard, facing the
| long lines of attentive countenances of the
division, while the findings of the court
martial and the orders for the execution
were read. After religious services the two
were arranged sitting on their collins, their
| ewes bandaged and their arms pinioned be-
hind. In front of each firing party of the
provost-guard took position and the WORD
of command from the provost.marshal was
given One Of the deserters fell back on
| his coffin, but only wounded, for be sat up
again. The other, who was not hit, jumped
| to his feet, burst his pinions, and snatched
away the white handkerchief from his eyes.
There was murmer of disapproval through
out the division at the aWkwardness of the
provost-guard, which was now adding un-
necessary delay and torture to the penalty
of the unfortunate men. The wounded man
was placed again aad his party dispatched
him with its next volley. He lay motionless
on his coffin. But the other seemed almost
invulnerable, for the second volley from bis
party, though it may have scratched him, left
him still struggling vigorously to free himself
A brilliant idea then entered the provost
marshal's mind. He brought up his men one
shoot him successfully. But, for some rea
son. the muskets would not 90 of-merely
the caps flashed. It had rained hard the
day before, yet there was no excuse for the
provost-guard, who had known for some
days what they had to do and ought to have
had their muskets clean by this time, rain
or no rain. Seven or eight men went up
one after the other and presented their mus
kets within foot or two of the deserter's
head but only to snap caps. A low grow
of indignation ran along the ranks of the
division and became fierce when one of the
provost mems guns went off finally, only to
wound the poor fellow who sat there on his
coffin squirming about under the slow muir
der. The general of the division was in 9
rage. and sent his staff one after the Other
galloping up to urge the provost-marshai te
do the disagreeable duty promptly ano
properly. Minutes went by and still there
peated efforts of twelve veteran soldiers te
kill this sitting, blindfolded, pinioned, help
less man were all in vain. A superstition:
!. feeling spread though the division that ht
would not be killed, because he could moi
be. Nearly half an hour of voleys and file
firing had passed, when the provost marshal
placing the muzzle of his long-barrellee
seven-shooter to the unfortunate mans head
discharged all the loads. The victim fel
back and at last all was over.-Letter in n
Y. Tribune.