Wichita eagle., 1886-09-25
aai15Eg gaole
COFFEE BOILERS
BOUNTY PAID RECRUITS OF THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

the Marci,-Cowardice of Unpatrioti,
Wretches Line of Battle - Dis
graceful Crew.
The potent cause of the demoralization o.
the Army of the Potomac was the worthless
character of the recruits who were supplied
to the army in 1S64-5. In 1864 acquisitions
calling for 100000 troops were made on the
north. So thoroughly exhausted was the
breed of fighting men in the north that but
169, 600 of the enormous number of men
raised by purchase ever stood in battle ranks
and they stood there because they had been
unable to elude vigilance or 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 pandering to the
ignobe vices of men. When the northern
townships-inspircd by confidence, and not by
patriotism, as the rising generation is taught
began to pay bounties for recruits to fill the
quotas allotted to them the criminal class of
America quit preying on society at large and
turned their attention to swindling the gov
ernment They accepted the bounty offered
by the towns and enlisted. When the boun-
ties We're paid to them they deserted and en-
listed in 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 inteli-
gent of the criminal class never appeared at
the front. They escaped. The weak, the
diseased the feeble minded joined the army
They Were 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-lo-wells Of villages. The re-
cruits were faint-hearted and stupid. Many
were icreciailnable bluckguards, wholly given
over 10 numerous ignoble and innumerable
vices. They were moral lepers. They were
constituencies, cowardly scoundrels, and the
clcan minded American and Irish volunteers
would not ociatewith them
Di:eo.iy after the battle of Cold Harbor
t.-o i3rctenled soldiers began to be notice
;''le il tn Army of the Potomac. They were
ut the heavy artillery men drawn by Grant
i-o.l Washington to make good his losses.
e had 10 better troops than those But
t.,se laen were the bounty paid recruits.
They were the white slaves whom greedy and
unratriotic men, who preyed on the necessi
ties of timid communities, gathered from the
Sums, from Castle Garden, from the aims.
houses, from the cots of venereal hospitals |
from the bars of criminal courts, from prison
cells, and from tho unnatural parents Of
weak minded sons. After gathering the foul
creatures they kept them in pens and private
prisons. Over the doors of these foul dens
swung signs, and blazoned on them in gilt
letters were shameful legends which an
Eounced that within a man dealt in alleged
fhof 10 hnnny. of L.;
be pawned there. A Mississippi slave dealer
was a refined and honorable gentleman in
comparison with northern bounty broker,
who sold men to the townships which filled
their quotas by purchase I have seen these
foul recruits, many of them unable to speak
English, vermin-infested, rough skinned.
stlnking with disease, their eyes running mat
ter, 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 billcted on They We're scorned,
kicked and cursed 10y the volunteers as NANCY
ours. These degraded men formed the "coifee
boilers
I first saw systematic coffee boiling"
sure sign that discipline was relaxed, at Cold
Harbor In the woods TO the rear and right
VI NY pattciy groups Vi uil"ouuuSu ii4eu
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 were scores Of them in the
army at Cold Harbor There were hundreds
of them around Petersburg. Oh, these "coffee
boilers" How my gorge rises against them!
They sneaked away from their regiments
during battle or while marching to battle, to
tI,o,, ln
always present when rations were issued
They were never present when cartridges
were supplied They were without oxcep-
ton, thieves They robbed the dead. They
stole from the living They were strongly
suspected of killing wounded men o nights
More cowardly creatures were never clad iii
the uniform of English speaking people. They
plundered houses. They frightened womcl
and little children. They burned dwelling
To call soldier of the Army of the Potomac
q coffee boiler was an insult to be promptly
resented.
These worthless creatures weakened every
battle line they were forced into No matter
how brave q veteran soldier may be. be relies
on the men on either side Of him to stand
there until they fall. He relies Oh them to
accompany him in the advance, and to bc by
his side when slowly falling back before q
superior force. 1t is essential that soldier
hears the voices of his comrades when he is
charging. He must know that his comrades
are as 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
|regimental officers to hold these undisciplined
|blackglaris steady under fire. Dozens OF
times have seen them break and run, throw
ing away their arms as they fled, yelling, to
the rear and to their coffee pots. They weak
|ened the battle lines, as no man can fight
when surrounded by towards, who are easily
panic stricken, and who are unrestrained by
any consideration of pride from ignominious-
by running away to save their lives
No man really enjoys battle. One has to
string up his nerves and take firm grip on
himself morally, and hold himself in the bat
tie flame for a few moments until warmed to
passion. The impulse is to run out of the
Hanger. The men the bounty brokers sup
piled to the army had no morality, no senti-
nent except of fear, and they could not and
would not stand fire. They desired to live to
enjoy the spending of the money they had re
peiyed. So they shirked, and ran, and boiled
coffee in the rear until gathered up by the
provost guards and sent to their regiments.
they were disciplined somewhat during the
winter Of 1854 and 1865. Previous TO the /
pring of 1865 the larger portion of the
bounty paid recruits would not have been
worth burning Confederate powder TO Kill, as
ssir presence in our ranks impaired the effi- |
kiency of our army. They could have been
afely killed with clubs
After the battle of June Is, 1864, the en-
tsted men frequently discussed the condition
g Thav a. /