Smyrna times., 1888-02-01
Unpaid Claims.
HOW LITTLE DELAWARE SENT MORE
THAN HER PROPORTION OF TROOPS
DURING THE WAR-sOME OF
THE MEN THAT WERE
NEVER PAID.
From the Sunday Republie

THE MEN THAT WERE
NEVER PAID.
From The Sunday Republic.
In 1861 when the Rebel guns were
fired on Fort Sumter, the loyal sons of
the North, the South, the East and
the West rushed to the field to defend
the Union Then came the disastrous
battle of the first Bull Run, and the !
call for more troops. Still they came,
and the spring of 1862 found a splen-
did army in the field under the COM
mand of that splendid soldier, General !
George B. Mcclellan. He first
advanced to Manassas only to find it
evacuated. Then he transferred his
army to the Peninsula and it fought
many gallant battles, but was eventu-
ally defeated. Then General John
Pope was placed in command, and he
organized his army at Fredericksburg
with headquarters in the saddle"
This campaign probably proved the
most disastrous of the whole war Not
a battle was won, and the Union
troops were routed at Cedar Mountain,
at Kelley's Ford, at BristOw Station, at
the second Bull Run and the Chantillv.
The whole Union Army skedadled
back to the entertainments built to
protect Washington.
Days were dark indeed, and Presi-
Lincoln issued his call for volunteers
for nine months service. Many thou
sands responded. Some regiments
fought at the battle of South Mountain
and Antietam and hundreds were kill
ed and wounded on those bloody fields.
Delaware, too, responded to the call
for nine months men. The late Col.
Henry S. McCOmb applied for and re-
ceived authority to raise two regiments
to protect the P. w. & b. railroad, tie
main artery OF communication between
the North and South, as well as the
extensive powder works of E. J. Du
Point de NemOurs & Co., which sup
piled most of the powder used by the
Union Army. In accordance with this
authority the Fifth and Sixth Della
ware Regiments were organized and
mustered in the United States service
for nine months, by Colonel, then
Major, N. B. Judd. of the United
States Army. Some of these companies
had previously been enrolled for State
service, but when they came to be
mustered in it was distinctly stated by
the mastering officers that they were
being mustered into the service of the
United States, and liable to be sent
wherever their services were required.
In nearly every company there were
men who refused to be so mustered,
and on notification stepped out of the
ranks. One of the Companies down
the State lost thirty or forty men, not
because the men were unpatriotic
but because their vocations did not
permit them to leave the State. The
places of all these men were filled, and
these two regiments were regularly mus
tered into the service of the United
States.
The commissions of the officers were
signed by Edwin NJ. Stanton, Secretary
of War, by order of President Lincoln.
The men were held in Wilmington and
and at various other points in the
State to take the places of other troops
that had been ordered elsewhere.
They were regularly uniformed,
armed and equipped and compelled to
meet regularly for drill. A Market
street merchant has a vived recollec-
ton of how he was marched off to
Ninth and Walnut streets under guard
one day because he did not report for
drill promptly on time. During the
time these regiments were held in Del
aware for the protection of the State,
they were compelled to board them
selves and did not receive one cent of
pay.
Finally in June 1868, after these
men had been drilled many months,
General Robert f. Lee, the rebel chief
tain, made his celebrated raid into
Pennsylvania which eliminated in the
battle of Gettysburg and the breaking
of the backbone of the rebellion. The
Fifth and Sixth Delaware Regiments
were promptly given marching orders
from the headquarters of the Middle
Department at Baltimore, some of the
Companies at the dead of night. The
alacrity with which all the Companies
responded to the orders is a matter of
history, and was officially commented
on at the time by Colonel Judd. When
these men were called upon to leave
their homes and families, some of them
their crops ready to be harvested in
the fields, they supposed they were to
be marched into Pennsylvania to inter
cept the advancing army of Lee. In
stead they were sent to take the place
of other troops that were guarding the
P. w. & B. railroad and the thousands
of rebel prisoners confined at Fort
Delaware. Many were also detained
for special duty in the exchange of
prisoners on the James River.
In August 1858, after the success of
the Union armies had been practically
assured, these men were discharged.
They received pay for six whole weeks
though many of them had been in SER
vice over ten months. 1t is generally
supposed that the failure to pay these
men in full was on account of a misin-
depreciation of Secretary StantOn's or
der The paymaster asked for instruc-
tions in reference to the men who had
n