Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-07-26
| A DESERTI0N EPIDEMIC.
WHEN SOLDIERS TOOK FRENCH
LEAVE IN THE FEDERAL ARMY.

| epidemic in the army?"
| Il do. They are among the sorrow
ful things connected with the war"
Then we two fell to talking about
desertion and punishment for the
crime, writes j. A. Watrous in the
| Chicago Times Herald.
when the desertion epidemic first
| put IN an appearance the punishments
were comparatively light, but later it
| became necessary to infiict the severest
| penalty--death. During the winter
of 1868, when the severe punishments
We're decided upon, there We're not
many regiments exempt from deser-
tions. Some of the deserters were
overtaken and brought back within
two or three days. Even at that time
their punishment depe's!eG largely
upon their former conduct as soldiers.
Let me bring the matter right home.
One morning in February We found
that three popular men OF our com
pany, who had faced death at Bull
Run, South Mountain, Antietam and
Fredericksburg, had deserted. A few
days before they had had some trouble
with two of the non-commissioned Off
GERS and been punished. They deemed
their treatment and punishment I'M
| Just and unbearable. Two of them re-
turned of their own accord within
three months. The colonel, having
knowledge of their former good con
duct in battle, interceded for them,
and they escaped with the stoppage of
Il portion of their pay for several
months During the remainder of the
! war there We're no better soldiers in
the company. The third one was cap
tured and brought back at the end of
seven months. He had escaped three
great battles in that time This count
ed against him. He was found guilty
and sentenced to be shot The same
colonel, aided by other officers, made
a gallant fight for the mans life and
saved him. l never saw more CRATE
full person. At the end of his three
| years he re-enlisted, and was so valu-
able during the last year of the war
that he was given promotion from time
to time until he became first sergeant,
and was about to be recommended for
a commission when Appomattox came. +"
Did you ever see II man shot for
desertion?"
Eyes, several of them. The first
one was n man of our brigade. He de
serted while we were near Fredericks-
burg and joined the confederate army.
few weeks before We started for
Gettysburg confederate deserter
reached the lines of another BRIGADE
and was placed under guard. A SOL
dier of our brigade passing that way
saw the confederate and was surprised
to find that he was the man who had
deserted from his company few
weeks before. Found guilty, he was
sentenced to be shot The day upon
which he was to die we were on the
way to Pennsylvania to help fight the
great deciding battle. The deserter
was placed in an ambulance, by his
coffin, that morning. At noon, after
hard tack, pork and coffee, the brig
ade formed three lines of square,
when the deserter was marched from
right to left of the line and seated
upon the coffin. Twelve men We're
marched two or three rods from him.
The officer gave the command
Ready, aim, fret! The criminal fell
back on his coffin, pierced by five OF
six bullets. The burial followed i'm
mediately, without service, and the
brigade pulled out, the band playing
a quickstep.
After the battle of Gettysburg,
and when the Fifth Corps was camped
near the Rappahannock River in Sep
tember, the whole command was
formed on three sides of square, the
customary formation, and witnessed
the shooting of five deserters. All of
them were the class known as bounty
jumpers. They had deserted several
times; one of them five times. They
were New Workers.. A desperate effort
had been made to save their lives.
Several committees from the great
city had waited upon President Lin
coin and pleaded for them. The wives
and children of two of them visited
the President, but Mr.. Lincoln could
not be moved. He had overlooked the
offense in hundreds of instances. but
the time had come when the discipline
of the army demanded the severest
punishment of soldiers found guilty of
that crime. Secretary Stanton, for
year before Mr.. Lincoln had refused
to so punish deserters, had pleaded
with him to let the law have its way.
Mr. Stanton had told the President
many time that his soft heart was
spelling the army and endangering the
life of the Nation, but Mr.. Lincoln
paid little heed until 1868.
''In some portions of the army it was
the custom to hang deserters, but in
most instances they were shot, and in
the presence of their respective com
mands, as described, The effect was
magical. Desertions were little heard
of for the next few months.
81 believe that majority of the de-
sertions of men who went into the army