Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-07-10
LIEUTENANT MULYEY.
An Amendment to His Military Record
offered.

Al W ~
offered.
COfTespOadeRcs Of he Register.
WASHINGTON, July 9.-On the 10Th of
April Mr.. Thompson, of Ohio, introduced
a bill in the House to authorize the Secre-
tary of War to revoke 50 much of General
Orders 46, headquarters Department
West Virginia, of April 4, 1865, as relates
TO and directs the dismissal from the army
with loss of pay and all allowances, OF Sec
ond Lieutenant VIM. J. Mulvey, of Com
pany d, Second Regiment West Virginia
Volunteers, and to grant him an honorable
discharge of that date, and that the mill
tary record of Mulvey be amended accord
ingly. The bill was referred to the Com
mittee on Military Affairs, which has re-
ported the bill favorably, and says that
1.-THE papers submitted by the Secretary Of
War to your committee show that William
j. Mulvey, on the 2Sth day of September,
1861, then eighteen years Of age, was en-
rolled as a private i'll Company L, First
West Virginia Infantry NOlun-
teers, and served as such until Novem-
Der l, 1862, when he vas promoted corpOr-
al: that he served from November l, 1862,
through the differnnt grades of corporal,
until the first day of July, 1864, when he
was promoted sergeant; that he served
from July l, 1854, IS sergeant, until the
10th day of December, 1864, when he was
promoted to- second lieutenant, and then
served rs second lieutenant until the 3lst
of March, 1865, when he was dismissed
from the service by sentence OF Il general
COurt-martial.
Upon his promotion to q lieutenancy he
was mustered in as second lieutenant, Com
many A, Battalion First West Virginia In
iantry Volunteers, but on the 2lst day OF
December, 1864, the battalion was CONSOLE
dated with the Fourth West NirginlS In
flntry Volunteers, and the consolidated
force designated the Second West Virginia
Veteran Infantry Volunteers, and he was
assigned TO Company ID ofthe consolidated
organization.
Lieutenant Mulvey was tried upon and
convicted of the charge of conduct preIu-
dicial 10 good order and military disci-
pline,1 and sentenced Ito be dismissed
from the service of the United States with
loss of pay and allowances since February
3, 1860"
The circumstances out of which the
charge grew described by Peter Ripley, an
officer of the same regiment, whose afidav-
il is on file in the War Department, In the
following language: ,
Lieutenant Mulvey, myself, and several
other went to a house and knocked at the
door and demanded admittance, which was
refused by the inmates; that j, with an
other member of our party, went around
to q side entrance of said house to see II
we could not gain admittance in that man
ner; that | was again refused and on re-
turning To the front of the house found,
very much to my surprise, Lieutenant
Mulvey in the hand of the provost guard,
under arrest; that Lieutenant Mulvey did
not knock at the door of said house, nor
did he demand admittanee; that was the
person who demanded admittance and
knocked at the door; that | was t~estifying
to the above facts on the court-martlal when
twas stoppedby one Of the members OF sald
court, and was not allowed to proceed with
such evidence, as it would criminate my
self. that | do not believe that Lieutenant
Nulvey would have been convicted at salC
/ eourt if / had been allowed to make a full
| statement of these facts; that the First al
/ Fourth West Virginia Infantry had, JUS
nreyiOus to the affair, been consolidated
into one regiment under the name OF Tn
Second West Virginia Veteran Infantry
and that a great deal of jealousy and I'LL
feeling existed between the members Of tn
two regiments after the reorganization, ant
and that the members of the provost guar
who arrested Lieutenant Mulyey wer
members of the old Fourth West Virgins
Infantry; that after Lieutenant Mulvey
arrest while on our way to the proves
marshaI's Office, one of the guard and Lieu
tenant Mulyey had ONE words; that Lieu
tenant Mulyey knocked the member OF IN
said guard down; that the provost guar
were under the influence of liquor an
used most abusive and insulting languag
10 Lieutenant Mulvey; that Lieutenan
Nulvey was very much excited by sue
language.
I'D to this time Lieutenant Mulyey
record had been that of q good soldier
His Colonel, in an affidavit on file In IN
War Department, says:
Mulyey never asked for nor had aful
Tough, never was on the sick list, neNe
missed A skirmish or a battle that his reg
ment participated in, and always, whe
/, the line of battle was formed, Mulyey wa
in his place; and it can be well shown 0
officers that he served with and under TINS
, he was as brave as the brayest-eourteou
, generous and agreeable in the camp
hattie he was mo- wanting in the least.
His record in the War DePartmei
shows him ready for duty every day frol
the time he enlisted until he was dismis
; ed, except when absent on veteran ~
/ Tough. Now, in view of these facts, an
Z considering that at the time OF the oeeu
y renee which caused his arrest he was bar
" t~wenty-one years old, and that he act'
/, under very great ~provocation, and IN We
of the further fact that Ripley was n
= permitted to testify to facts exoneratii
\ him. it seems to your committee . prop
! case for the relief asked The eommltt
q SIRE unwilling that 70 gallant . solSi
should suffer so heavya penaityga III
LONG penalty for an ofense prompted me
= hy Youthful indiscretion than an q
. mind. The committee therefore recol
! mend thu passage ofths bill