Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-07-28
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
QuEER MILITARY INpusTRY.
An Army Official Tells Remarkable Sto-
ries of War Times.


providing a substitute"
By the provisions Of the act OF con-
gress authorizing the draft three hun
bred dollars was the allowance for
these substitutes. But as the war pro-
crossed and everybody's name was on
the provost marshals boOks-that is,
every citizen who had ever voted or was
an eligible voter-the price rose in pro-
portion to the scarcity of available ma
terial for substitutes till in some of the
smaller states in New England and in
many western neighborhoods large
sums, from one thousand two hundred
dollars to two thousand dollars even,
were paid by those who were drafted,
and the quotas of each county and town
being duly apportioned the citizens
thereof voted county and town boun-
ties. and these sums. added to the state
and national 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 few Americans, most
of whom with no family ties and no re-
gard for them if they had did the same
thing. They enlisted for the money,
pure and simple, and a little perjury
here and there was a small matter to
such elastic consciences. The substi-
tute who was in strange part of the
country and sworn to the fact that he
was an alien, or at any rate had never
voted, and enlisted only for bounty,
meant to desert when he could. An
other class was composed of men re-
cruited to fill up regiments already in
the field They received similar large
bounties, had no more intention of
fighting than the substitutes had. and
were in great part, especially in cities
graduates of iails and penitentiaries-
good enough food for powder if their
teeth were strong enough to bite a
hard tack"
When these men had passed their
medical examination, signed their en-
listment papers, and duly perjured
themselves according to law they We're
put in United States uniforms, furnish
ed with blanket, knapsacll, haversack
and canteen, and sent, under guard, to
some receiving depot, where they re-
manned till they were forwarded to the
several regiments to which they were
accredited In these temporary depots,
especially in large cities like New
York, Philadelphia and Boston, there
was complete reign of terror. Strength
and brutality were uppermost. Half a
dozen rutfians 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 of
Tense, in general, upon any one individ-
ual.
From time to time these recruiting
depots were thinned out by sending the
men to various camps until enough
Were collected for any designated regi-
ment. Troops from the east were sent
to Camp Grant and to Camp Taylor,
four or five miles from Washington
the former being only for drafted men,
and the other for substitutes and re-
cruits newly enlisted
| had charge of the latter camp dur
ing the winter of 1S64-65, and of all the
ungracious work ever had to do in the
army that was the meanest. To start
with, had control of a shifting, vary
ing 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 a
semblance of discipline. J had all the
responsibilities of a prison warden
without his means of enforcing obedi
ence, and am satisfied that year of
such work would have brutalized me
beyond redemption. As it was, | found
my character-not, trust, an ungentle
Notwithstanding from day to day I'M
der such debasing influences, and /
was truly thankful when transferred
to a more congenial line f duty.
Camp Taylor covered in all about fif-
teen acres, surrounded by no stoekade,
but instead with an armed guard of the
Veteran Reserve corps, an organization
of which those of the present genera
ton know nothing. 1t was composed
of soldiers who had been wounded Sc
verely enough to prevent them from do
ing more serious duty in the field.
Many Of these men had received very
little bounty on cnlisting, some none at
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
fashion, gambling and loafing, and
idling away the slow hours, while they.
who had borne the heat and burden of
the day, were living along wounded
and ~etting mere pittance.
Nor is it to be wondered at. either,
that a one hundred dollar bill, deity
administered by a recruit who wanted
to desert. should make his guard blind
for few minutes or accidentally turn
his back to permit an escape. Fully
Is per cent of the men in camp We're
missing every week, and never did the
morning report show less than ten or
twelve missing out Of FIVE or six hum
bred.
There was a regular organized bu
reau for bounty jumpers. 1t had its
headquarters in Washington, known,
of course, only to its patrons and direc-
tors. 1t had its branches in every large
city II had its ssuuderrrOund rail-