Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-07-02
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
QUEER MILITARY INDUSTRY.
An Army OHcial Tells Remarkable sto.
ries of War Times.


says an old army officer. A man whose
name was on the fated list of conscripts
had but one alternative-the ranks or
providing Substitute"
BY the provisions of the act of con-
gress authorizing the draft three hun
dred dollars was the allowance for
these substitutes. But as the war pro-
gressed and everybody's name was on
the provost marshal's 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 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 jails 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 were
put in United States uniforms, furnish
ed with blanket, knapsack, haversack
and canteen, and sent, under guard, to
some receiving depot, where they re-
mained till they were forwarded to the
several regiments to which they We're
accredited. In these temporary depots,
especially in large cities like New
York, Philadelphia and Boston, there
was n complete reign of terror. Strength
and brutality were uppermost. Half a
dozen ruffians would attack a 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
fense, in general, upon any one individ-
ual.
From time to time these recruiting
aepots were thinned out by sending the
men to various camps until enough
were collected for any designated regi-
ment. Troops from the east We're 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" lot
as ever assembled in penitentiary,
with none of the restraints which are
thrown about the latter place, with no
possibility of maintaining more than a
se,oblance of discipline. / had all the
responsibilities of prison warden
without his means of enforcing obedi'
ence, and am satisfied that a year OF
such work would have brutalized me
beyond redemption. AS it was, l found
my character-not, / trust, an ungentle
one-deteriorating from day to day un.
der such debasing influences, and
WAS truly thankful when transferred
to more congenial line of duty.
Camp Taylor covered in all about fif.
teen acres, surrounded by no stockade
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 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 il
their pockets, enjoying life after thei,
fashion, gambling and loatipg, ant
idling away the slow hours, while they
who had borne the heat and burden o
the day, were living along, wounded
and getting mere pittance.
Nor is it to be wondered at, either
that one hundred dollar bill, deftlN
administered by recruit who wanted
to desert, should make his guard blint
for a few minutes or accidentally turn
his back to permit an escape. Full.
40 per cent of the men in camp wer,
missing every week, and never did th'
morning report show less than ten o
twelve missing out of five or six hun
drei.
There was regular organized bu
f,, f1yi h II ~