Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-08-17
SOLDIERS STORIES.
"REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-


81 remember the draft in Chicago,
said a veteran fireman, "and l know
something of how substitutes were pro-
cured. When the draft was ordered ID
The latter part Of 1864, or early IN 1850,
| ). C. P. Holden and Alderman Daggle,
IF the Tenth Ward, organized a Tenth
Ward club, with headquarters at the
corner Of Clinton and Washington
streets. Each member subscribed and
paid into the club treasury $50, and be-
came an active member Of the commit
tee to see that all residents we're en-
| .olled, thereby lessening each ones
chances Of being drafted If any mem
Der of the club was SO unfortunate as
% be drawn the club agreed to furnish
A substitute, the prices of which were
as high as $4,000 each, according to the
supply. There was anxiety upon the
part of all interested to see square
deal, and not little 1inessing was done
by each member to keep his particular
name out of the fatal box.
'When the day came for the drawing
the crowd selected Captain John Gill
| espie. of engine No. 10, corner Of Wash
lngton and Dearborn streets, to draw
the names out Of the box. The third
name he drew was his own, which con-
vinced the people that everything was
done fairly. When the drawing was
over there began the brokerage of secur-
| ing substitutes. Agents haunted all
the depots and pounced upon every ru-
raj arrival and hustled all possible can
| didates off to make deal. When they
found one who set the price up to $4,000
and over they would admit that was
The ruling price a week before, but the
rush had satisfied the demand, and by
aid Of confidence aiders' and side part
ners' the recruiting agents would agree
upon a sum several hundred dollars be-
low the price the agents received, and it
was no unusual thing for good agent
tute between the depot and the old
courthouse square, where the sub was
| turned over to the proper authorities
and the price paid the substitute and
The agent"
"When the substitutes arrived at the
| 'front.'" said the Colonel, "they were
numerically hazed and badgered by the
veterans, who had entered the serv-
| Ice without any inducement in the way
Of bounties and who scorned the idea
&rh
assumed that all substitutes were Of
one pattern, were men who had de-
clined to enlist as a matter OF patriot
ism, and who entered the service only
when large bounties were offered. Many
Of the veterans believed that the word
substitute was synonymous with The
bounty jumper and coward, and acted
accordingly. But in truth many old sol
diers, who had seen years of service,
and many high-spirited young fellows
who could not leave aged parents with
out support, became substitutes, and
were none the worse for the bounty
paid.
"Our regiment, after a service Of
at Newport barracks in the summer of
1864. The men declined to re-enlist as
an organization because they were tired
of fighting, and wanted a rest, and
they scattered to their homes in differ
ent States. Before snow fell more than
half of them were again in the serv-
ice, many Of them returning to old reg
iments as recruits or substitutes. In
all such cases the recruit, so strong was
the feeling against substitutes, con-
cealed his re-enlistment from his old
comrades, and in not a few cases the
veteran played the part of raw re-
cruit SO as to dissociate the new service
from the old.
Zone of our old company returned
home to find his family in distress and
the farm mortgaged. After trying to
stem the tide Of misfortune, and after
trying vainly to borrow money, he sold
himself, as he put it, for $4,000, and
went to one of the new regiments at
the front as a substitute He pre-
tended to know nothing Of drill or SOL
der duty, and played the part Of
stupid but well-meaning clodhopper. He
bore all the jokes and prosecutions with
cheerful patience and made friends
with other substitutes. He never for
got himself except when it came to bat
tie, and then the change was not no
ticed at first. But one day, when the
regiment was hard pressed, the SOL
der spirit asserted itself and carried
the old veteran beyond the self-imposed
limitations of substitute.
''When the break came he turned as
he would have turned in his old regi-
ment and ran to the colors There he
| met the sergeant who had drilled him,
and the captain who had treated him
contemptuously, and others who had
laughed at his stupidity. Before this
the men of his company had not be-
Iieyed that he could fire a gun effect