Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-07-20
MEN WHO RAN AWAY.


'.Lived to Fight Another Day.
Away up in the topmost attic of the
War and Navy building, says the Wash
ington Star, is stored away, quite out of
sight, a very curious and interesting
collection of photographs. They are
tin-types, 900 and odd IN number, and
are fastened with taCks in rows upon
three big parallelograms Of plank. Be-
meath each one is an inscription telling
a story Of the war, for the pictures are
those of deserters from the Federal
armies during the rebellion.
The assemblage of ikenesses includes
only those gathered by a single provost
marshal. To hold the photographs Of
all the men who deserted from the
ranks Of the Union during the war a
great many large rooms would be re-
quired. While one considers the feel
ings of patriotism that are supposed to
have animated Northern hearts during
the mighty civil struggle, all beating
with one universal thrOb for the pre-
seryation of the country, 1t is painful to
think Of the fact that from the beginning
to the end of that period of civil strife
26S, geo men deserted from the stars and
stripes.
The faces in the collection of tin
types described afford strange study.
In not a few of them one distinctly
recognizes the criminal type. Most Of
these represent bounty jumpers, who
made business Of desertion, running
away from one regiment for the pur
pose Of enHsting IN another, and thus
obtaining by fraud repayment several
times over for their patriotism. lnaS-
much as $500 was offered to each fresh
recruit from October, 1868, to May,
1864, this form of industry was suffi-
GENTLY profitable to afford inducements
to the INSCRIPTIONS. One fellow whose
picture is tackled to the planks is set
down in the memorandum beneath as
having deserted no less than twenty
three times, although he was evidently
hardly more than a youth. His name
was Patrick Gallagher. On the other
hand, there are many faces in this little
gallery which are decidedly progresses
ing.
The number of men recorded as de-
serters is considerably in excess of
what it should be, inasmuch as it was
swelled by the names of many strag
glers and other persons who were una
voidable absent from duty, owing to &C
cidents or unreported disability. 1t is
estimated that only about POO, 600 sol
diers forsook the nations flag during
the war deliberately and Of their own
free will. These latter figures seem
large enough, but 1T has been correctly
said that mo cause is SO just or be-
loved that war in its behalf will not be
attended with desertion by its defend
ers." Many causes beside coWardice
and Indifference to duty are operative
in such matters-not least of them love
and anxiety for kindred and other de-
pendents at home, tor whose sake even
patriot may sometimes be induced to
run away.
The experience had by the United
States respecting desertIon and the
mean of preventing it was got during
the rebellion at great cost. A long time
passed before it came to be realized that
there was but one way to deal effective
ly with the evil-namely, by the exer-
else Of the utmost severity. So long as
lenient measures were applied men
dropped out Of the ranks by thousands,
undeterred by fears of punishment.
Lives sacrificed, battles lost and cOnse-
Quent prolongation Of the struggle were
fruits of want of vigor in treating the
trouble in the early stages of the war.
Thus mercy to those who ran away was
really great cruelty to those who re-
NAMED true to the cause. Among the
causes for deSertlOn was the fact that
IN the D6glnu1ng Oh tHo cOuulcL ma
jority of the volunteers had no knowl-
edge of military law and discipline.
Another evil brought about by deser-
tons was the disbursement of re-
cruiting by stories which the deserters
spread respecting the alleged harsh
treatment and unnecessary hardships
imposed upon them by officers in COM
mand. 1t is undeniable that the large
bounties offered encouragement to run
aways. and the maintaining of SO costly
a system ofsecuring fighting men would
have ruined the country financially after
awhile. Therefore il is contended that
q better plan to adopt IN the event of
another war would be to do away with
bounties and grant higher pay to volun-
teers, who would thus be enabled to
make some sort Of provision for their
families left behind. Naturally individ-