Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-08-01
THEY DRAW A PENSION,
But Once They Served in the
Ranks Against the Union.
Men Who Left the Confederate Army
and Enlisted Under the Banner
Of the Union.

large number of ex- Confederate sol
diers and sailors who deserted, or who
while prisoners of war, took the oatl
OF allegiance to the United States, en-
listed in the Union army, and, receiv
ing disabilities while in the line O.
duty as Federal soldiers, are now draw
ing pensions. During the confinemen
OF Confederate prisoners in Fedora
forts and prison pens the Union officer
used every means to induce Confeder
ate prisoners to take the oath of allie
glance to the United States Govern
ment, offering them in some instances
good positions and large pay. In
many cases the Confederate prisoners
accepted the offers and deserted, some
OF them entering into civic pursuits
but thousands joined the Union army
and were credited on the quotas of the
States which they selected to serve. II
is a fact, which can be substan tiated
from the records of the War Depart
ment, that six regiments of "penitent
rebels, as they were sometimes called
were organized from the prison camps
at Point Lookout, Rock Island, Alton,
Camp Douglas and Columbus. They
were composed of Confederate prison
ers who took the oath of allegiance
and enlisted in the United States ser.
vice.
Two Illinois regiments were also re
cruited to a large extent from Con-
federate prisoners who were confined.
in 1862, in Douglas at Chicago. These
enlistments took place before the gen
eral exchange of prisoners in that year.
These facts are sustained in a com
munication from the War Department
to Capt Hiram r. Enoch, formerly of
Rockport, ILL.,, afterward a resident of
Baltimore. He was captain in the
Sixty Seventh Illinois Volunteers, and
in 1862 was provost marshal at Camp
Douglas. He kept private register of
all the Confederate prisoners at that
post and of the disposition made of
them. From the records of Adiutant
Generals office at Washington it ap-
pears that, of these prisoners at Camp
Douglas, there were enlisted in the
United States army before Novem ber
one, 1852, 2l2 men, and subsequent to
November /, 1869, 1,135. The Adjutant
General notes that in the majority of
cases the Federal organizations in
which these Confederate prisoners en-
listed are not shown by the records on
file. The private register of Capt Enoch,
however, does name the regiments as
follows: "Enlisted in the Twenty
Third and Sixty Fifth Illinois Regi-
ments, $780," These Confederate re.
cruits were Immediately sent to the
front.
Several regiments were also enlisted
from among the Confederate prisoners
at Sandusky, Columbus, Camp Chase,
johnson Island, Fort Delaware and
other military prisons. AS early as
1858 the Confederate prisoners at Fort
Delaware began taking the oath of al
legiance to the United States, and in
the summer of that year, after the sur
render of Vicksburg and the destruc-
tioh of the Merrimac and siege of Rich
mond, when affairs in the Confederacy
looked blue, over 200 of these men W el
doing garrison duty at the fort
Five hundred more afterward took
the oath of allegiance and were uni
formed and held in readiness for any
service the Government might call
upon them to perform. Some entered
the ranks of the Fourth Regiment of
Delaware Infantry, while others became
members of Capt. Ahl's battery of
heavy artillery. That company was
composed exclusively of Confederate te
prisoners who had taken the oath of
allegiance to the United States. 1t
was mustered out of service on July
20, 1865, when the men were paid off
and returned to their homes. Com
pany G., of the Fourth Delaware In
fantry, was made up almost entirely
of ex-Confederate prisoners from Fort
Delaware. Companies d, Z, F and G.,
of the Third Regiment of Maryland
Cavalry, commanded by Col. C. Car
roll Tevis, was composed of men en-
rolled at Fort Delaware from among
Confederate prisoners of war who had
taken the oath of allegiance. 1t was
in service in Louisiana, Alabama,
Florida and Mississippi in 1S64.5, were
mustered out at Vicksburg, Miss. Sep.
tember Z, 1865. At Point Lookout,
Nd, over 600 Confederate prisoners
took the oath OF allegiance and en-
listed in the army. 1t was stated in
February, 1865, that out of detach.
ment of 800 Confederate prisoners at
Camp Chase, ordered to be placed upon
the exchange list, 26O voted to remain
in prison.
A large number of Confederate
prisoners were discharged from prison
taking the oath of allegiance, and
entered the Union army as substitutes
for the big bounties which were then
offered, and their identity will never
beknown. Considerable comment was
created a short time since from the fact
that one of these, who had been an ex
Confederate soldier and now living in
Georgia, was receiving a Federal pen
sion,