The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-09-21
Bounty Jumping in the War.

DouuJy jumping Ill tHe ware
The drafts ordered by the president
were being strictly enforced A man
whose name was on the fated list of
conscripts had but one alternative-the
ranks or providing 4" substitute" BY
the provisions of the act of congress
authorizing the draft, $500 was the al
lowance for these substitutes. But as
the war progressed, and everybody's
name was on the provost marshal's
books-that is, every citizens name
who had ever voted or was an eligible
voter-the price rose in proportion to
the scarcity of available material for
substitutes, till in some of the smaller
states in New England, and in many
western neighborhoods, large sums,
from 81 200 to $4,000, were paid by
those who were drafted, and the quotas
of each county and town being duly ap-
portioned, the citizens thereof voted
county and town bounties, and these
sums, added to the state and normal
bounties, made up very respectable
inducement TO young men to enlist.
This state of affairs held out every
temptation to unprincipled men to en-
list for the sake of the bounty. Many
such enlistments were made by for
eigners and not a few Americans.
When these men had passed their med
ical examination, signed their enlist
ment papers, and duly perjured them
selves according to law, they were put
into United States uniforms, furnished
with blanket, knapsack and canteen,
Nd 10 ixy;,,
depot where they remained until they
were forwarded to the several regi-
ments to which they were accredited.
In these temporary depots, especially
in large cities like New York, Phila-
delphia and Boston, there was a COM
plete reign of terror. Strength and
brutality were uppermost. Half a
dozen ruffians would attack small
sized man and take his money from
him. To complain was useless; it was
impossible to identify the money, or to
fix the offense, in general, upon any
one individual. From time to time
these recruiting depots were thinned
out by sending the men to the various
camps until enough were collected for
any designated regiment. Troops from
the east were sent to Camp Grant and
Camp Taylor, four or five miles from
Washington, the former being only
for drafted men, and the other for sub
stitutes and recruits newly enlisted. l
had charge of the latter camp during
the winter of 1064-5, and of all the
ungracious work | ever had to do in
the army that was the meanest. To
start with, l had control of a shift
ing, varying class of humanity, as
" hard a lot as ever assembled in a
penitentiary, with none of the restraints
which are thrown about the latter place,
with no possibility of maintaining more
than semblance of discipline. 1 had
all the responsibilities of prison war;
den, without his means of enforcing
obedience, and l am satisfied that a
year of such work would have brutal
lied me beyond redemption. AS it was,
l found my character, not, l trust, an
ungentle one, deteriorating from day
to day under such debasing influences,
and / was truly thankful when trans.
ferred to more congenial line of duty.
Camp Taylor covered in all an area
of about fifteen acres, surrounded by nc
stockade, but instead with an armed
guard of the Veteran Reserve Corps,
an organization of which those of the
present generation know nothing. 1t
was composed of soldiers who had been
wounded enough to prevent them from
doing more serious duty in the field.
Many of these men had received very
little bounty on enlisting, some none al
all, and it is not to be wondered at that
they felt aggrieved at seeing these
roughs with hundreds of dollars In their
pockets, enjoying life after their fash
ion, gambling and loating and idling
away the slow hours, while they, who
had borne the heat and burden of the
day, were living along, wounded and
getting a mere pittance. There was Q
regularly organized bureau for " bounty
jumpers" 1t had its headquarters in
Washington, known, of course, only tc
its patrons and directors. 1t had its
branches in every large city. 1t had
its g underground Railroad" as the alb
olitionists had. 1t had its secret places
of innocent exterior, where deserters
were boarded, furnished with citizens
clothing and DISCUSSES of various kinds
In fine nothing was wanting to enable 9
man to enlist, get his bounty, make his
escape, get to another part of the coun.
try, and enlist again, and again desert
Substitute brokers got rich, the army
suffered, scoundrels hourished and
waxed fat. Occasionally a bounty.
jumper was caught and two or three
shot. But the kind heart of President
Lincoln generally committed their sen,
fences to imprisonment at the Dry Tor.
tugas, and finally, soon after the termin.
alton of the war, they were all set free
under general amnesty.-SprinqJfeld