Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-18
ARE MARKED "DESERTERS."
Many Veterans of the Civil War Who
Did Their Duty.

According to Judge Advocate General
Lemly Of the navy one of the most strik-
ing examples Of inequtable legislation to
be found upon the statute books exists in
the case of a certain class Of soldiers and
sailors, veterans Of the civil war, against
whom the technical charge of desertion ap-
pears Of record. The circumstances which
have brought about these negotiable con-
ditiOns he states as follows:
In the spring of 1860 considerable period
of time elapsed during which the army and
navy We're not in active service, the ext
gencies of the war being over, while at the
same time the steps necessary to q formal
disarmament of the forces had not been
taken. Men who had left their homes will
iI.gly to enter the army or the navy, and
who had remained in the service faithfully
during the activities Of the war, under
standing that the period Of public peril had
passed, and that the purposes of their en-
listment had been substantially served,
quietly returned to their homes and re-
sumed their places in civil life, in very
many cases without awaiting the formality
of discharge.
The manner in which the Individual mem
bers of these great well-traned and eff
Gent organizations, Immediately and with
out confusion or disorder of any Kind re-
entered the civil body polite from which
they had come, and took up again the pur-
suits of private business, has ELECTED the
admiration of students of American ma
ticnal polfty. But however admirable and
desirable from the point of view of the DO
littcal economist the speedy re-entry into
productive industry of soldiers and sailors
no longer needed for active duty may have
been, in all cases where such re-entry was
made without awaiting the arrival of for
NAL papers of discharge, 1t was, from a
military point of view, irregular; and the
soldiers and sailors who, when the war was
over. thus returned to their homes were
technically guilty Of the offense of deser-
ton. In later years, when seeking official
employmnt, applying for admission to mill
tary or naval organizations, or desiring to
obtain a pension, such men, conscious of
their patriotic and honorable service, have
been astontshed to find that upon the rec
ords they are rated as deserters
BY an act of Congress approved August
IA, 1855. it was provided that where men
in such situation had served faithfully in
the navy for period of at least six
| months during the war of the rebellion and
until May l, 1865, the mark of desertion
might, in certain described merttoriouS
cases, be removed. The operation of this
act was limited to five years, doubtless be-
cause it was supposed at the time of its
enactment that such period would be suffi-
| Client to afford all applicants hereunder an
| opportunity TO present their requests for
| relief. 1t happened, however, that many of
| the men entitled to the benefits of this re-
medal provision did not ascertain their
| true status until after the act itself had
| expired by limitation, as they did not seek
! to obtain pensions until reduced to the
necessity of so doing through advancing
| years or misfortune.
But whatever the cause, the records of
| this department show that a very large
| number of meritorous claimants who could
| have obtained relief under this act as fall
| ing within the class for whose benefit it
| was obviously intended, failed to make APP
| pl1cation In season; and the technical
! charge of desertion in their cases still de-
| bars them from rights and privileges fairly
| earned by honorable service in time of war
| The inequity of these conditions is empha-
| sized by the fact that an act passed for
| the beneft of the army, and similar in
! terms to the act Of August H. 1885 has
] been made operative without limita ton as
| to the time when applications hereunder
| must be filed.
| 1t is earnestly recommended that Com
| gress be asked to take such action as will
| revive and render operative without Iimita-
| ton the beneficial provisions of the act of
| August IA, 1883.