The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-01
COFFEE BOILERS"
BOUNTY PAID RECRUITS OF THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

wrctches An Line of Battle Dis
graceful Crew.
The potent cause of the decentralization of
the Army OF the Potomac was the worthless
character of the recruits who were supplied
to the army in 1SG4-5. In 1864 acquisitions
calling for 500, 600 troops were made on the
north So thoroughly exhausted was the
breed OF fighting men in the north that but
49,, OUJ of the enormous number of men
raised by purchase ever stood in battle ranks,
and they stood there because they had been
unable to el,Ide vigilance corrupt the hon.
esty of the guards who accompanied them
from the recruiting barracks to the front.
Since man has been on earth the race has
been divided into two classes, one of which is
the criminal class This class lives by plumber
ing the producing class. They live by theft,
by murder, by cheating, by panderins to the
ignoble vices of men. When the northern
townships-inspired by confidence, and not by
patriotism, as the rising generation Is taught
began TO pay bounties for recruits to ill the
quotas allotted to them the criminal class of
America quit preying on society at large and
turned their attention to swindling the gov
ernnent They accepted the bounty offered
by the towns and enlisted. When the boun-
ties Were paid to them they deserted and en-
listed III another town, to again desert
Bounty jumping was the safest and most
profitable business in the United States dur
ing those days The boldest and most intelli-
gent of the criminal class never appeared at
the front. They escaped. The weak, the
diseased, the feeble minded joined the army.
They the scum of the slums of the great
European and American cities. To these
were added the rakings of rural almshouses
and the ne'er-do-wells of villages. The re
cruits were faint-hearted and stupid. Many
Were irreclaiinable blackguards, wholly given
over to numerous ignoble and innumerable
vices. They were moral lepers. They were
constituencies, cowardly scoundrels, and the
clean minded American and Irish volunteers
would not associate with them.
Directly after the battle of Cold Harbor
these pretended soldiers began to be notice
able in the Army of the Potomac. They were
not the heavy artillery men drawn by Grant
from Washington to make good his losses.
We had no better troops than those. But
these men the bounty paid recruits.
They were the white slaves whom greedy and
unpatriotic men, who preyed on the necessi-
ties Of tinlid communities, gathered from the
slums, from Castle Garden, from the aims
houses from the cots of venereal hospitals,
from the bars of criminal courts, from prison
cells. and from the unnatural parents of
weak minded sons. After gathering the foul
creatures they kept them in pens and private
prisonA Over the doors Of these foul dens
swung si.,ns, and blazoned ON them in gilt
letter shameful legends which an
nounred that within man dealt in alleged
men, ard that the honor of townships could
be Eavned there A Mississippi slave dealer
was refined and honorable gentleman in
comparison with northern bounty broker,
who sold men to the townships which filed
their quotas by purchase. 1 have seen these
foul recruits, many of them unable to speak
English. Vermin-infested, rough skinned,
Sinking with disease, their eyes running mat
tee, their legs and arms thin and feeble, their
backs bowed, and their ratlike and idiotlike
heads hanging low, join the army, to be vir-
tually kicked out of the decent commands
they were billeted on. They were scorned,
kicked and cursed by the volunteers as NANCY
ours These degraded men formed the coffee
boilers"
1 first saw systematic "cofYee boiling" a
sure sign that discipline was relaxed, Mt Cold
Harbor. In the woods to the rear and right
of my battery groups of unwounded men
cooked and boiled coffee. These men had
dropped out of their commands as they ap-
preached the battle line and had hidden in
the woods. There We're scores of them i'll the
army at Cold Harbor. There were hundreds
of them around Petersburg. Oh, these 'coffee
boilers" How my gorge rises against them!
They ..,Cs.-cd array from their regiments
during battle or while marching to battle, to
rejuin them when on the march They were
always present when rations issued.
The were never present when ridges
were supplied They were, without cxcep-
ton, thieves. They robbed the dead They
stole from the living. They were strongly
suspected OF killing wounded men o. nights.
More cowarlly creatures were never clad in
the uniform of English speaking people. They
plundcred houses They frightened women
ard little children. They burned dwellings.
To call soldier of the Army of the Potomac
a coffee boiler was insult to be promptly
resented.
These worthless creatures weakened every
battle line they were forced into. No matter
how brave n veteran soldier may be. he relies
the men either side of him to stand
there until they fall. He relies on them to
accompany him in the advance, and to be by
his side when slowly falling back before a
superior force. 1t is essential that n soldier
hears the voices of his comrades when he is
charging. He must know that his comrades
are stanch fighters as he. Then he can fight
with comparative comfort. How was it with
the larger portions of the bounty paid re-
cruits. 1t did not lie within the power of any
rcgimental officers to hold these undisciplined
blackguards steady under fire Dozens OF
times have seen them break and run, throw
inl; away their arms they fled, yelling, to
the rear and To their coffee pots. They weaS-
cntSi Inc ptillle lines, as no man Gun It,nb
when surrounded by towards, who are easily
panic stricken, and who are unrestrained by
any consideration of pride from ignominious-
" running away to save their lives.
No man really enjoys n battle. One has to
string up his nerves and take firm grip on
himself morally, and hold himself i'll the bat
tie ilGile for Il few moments until warmed to
passion. The impulse is TO run out of the
danger The men the bounty brokers sup
Vliol - the army had no morality, senti-
Incnt except of fear, and they could not and
uould net stand fire. They desired to live to
enjoy tn ,.s,I,l'-.g of the money they had re-
ceivci 50 they .,Jirked, and ran, and boiled
coffee il tie rear until gathered up by the
proves. "a rs AMI sSut to their regiments.
They vcr. C.&:o.incd somewhat during the
winter &c -! and 1865. Previous to the
spring of I>tI the larger portion of the