Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-12-20
sh and not to shield. the criminal in

aSSaSSinS and Would-Oc dSSaSSlnS who
have disgraccd thu If uniform by the con-
duct above related Many of these non
commissioned officers ana men must have
known, and all of them may have known,
circumstances which would have led TO
the convection of those engaged in the
murderous assault. They have stolidly
and as one man broken their oathS of
enlistment and refused to help discover
the criminals.
BY my direction every effort was
made to persuade those innocent of
murder among them tc separate them
selves from the guilty by helping bring
the criminals to justice. They were
warned that if they did not take advant-
age of the offer they would all be dis
charged from the service and forbidden
again to enter the employ of the Gov
eminent. They refused TO profit by the
charged. If any organization of troops
in the service, white or black. is guilty
of similar conduct in the future l shall
follow precisely the same course. Under
in the service bodies of men whom the
circumstances show to be a menace to
the country. Incidentally l may add
highest position who suffered because of
the order. so far from being those who
deserve most sympathy. deserve least,
for they are the very men upon whom
We should be able especially to rely to
prevent mutiny and murder.
People have spoken as if this dis
charge from service was punishment
! deny emphatically that such is the case
because as punishment it is utterly in
adequate. The punishment meet for mu-
timers and murderers such as those
guilty of the Brownsville assault is
death; and punishment only less severe
ought to be meted out to those who have
aided and Allotted mrtiny and murder
and treason by refusing to help in their
detection. | would that IT We're possible
FOR me to have punished the guilty men.
In 7
been able to 90 so.
BE it remembered always that these
men We're all in the service of the United
States under contracts of enlistment.
which by their terms and by statute We're
terninah!e by my direction as COM
mandci-in-chief of the army. 1t was
my clear duty to terminate those con-
tracts when the public interest demanded
it; and it would have been a BETRAYAL of
the public interest on my part not to ter
inmate the contracts which We're keeping
N the service of the United States BODY
oil mutineers and murderers.
Any assertion that these men were
dealt with harshly because thev rwer,,
colored men is utterly without fOupda-
ION oi'lcers or enlisted men. white men
or colored men. who were guilty of such
conGuct: would have been treated in pre-
clsely the way: for there can be moth
lng more important than for the United
understand that its arms can net be
turned with dmpunity against the peace
and 16i order of the civil community.
oo there are plenty of precedents for the
me me memoranda herewith submitted
from the Military Secretary's office of
the War Department. and a memoran-
nnm from the Military Secretary enclos-
li,s = Iiece by eX-Corporal Hesse, now
chlei OF division in the Military Score
Iary once. together with letter from
IRlstrict Attorney James Wilkinson, of
New Orleans. The district atltorney's Iet
several in ;cI, III
United states soldiers. being arrested for
CRIME. were tried, and every soldier and
e e4 .,'. OF the regiment. or in the fort
uNteered all they knew both before and
az the trial. so as to secure Justice.
In one case the soldier was acouitted
~ an"thtr case the soldier was convicted
OF murder. the conviction resulting from
the TACT that every soldier from the
commanding officer to the h,Imblest nri
Hatn. united in securing all the evidence
III thelr power about the CRIME In other
cases for less OffenSe soldiers We're con
vlcted purely because their comrades in
arms arms. IN spirit of fine Loyalty to the
honor OF the service at once told tha
Whole story of tho troubles and 6ecIinnd
no identify themselves with the criminals
!. During the war numerous precedents
inr the action taken by me occurred in
the shape of the summary discharges of
regiments or companies because of rniS
Cohduct on the part of some or all of
their members. The Sixtieth Ohio was
sun summary ar iiso charged. on the ground
tndl tne regiment was diSorganized mn
tlnois. and worthless. The Eleventh New
YORK was discharged by reason of gen
eiai disqualification and numerous de-
SritlohS. Three companies of the Fifth
Missouri Cavalry and one cornnany Of
the Fourth Missouri Cavalry were mus
tered out Of the service Of tho J-niied
Sites without trial by court ma tial by
t"aS"n Or mutnous conduct ana disaf-
iectation Of the majority of the mem
otrS or these companies ian almost exact
Earali"l to my actionD Another Missouri
regiment was muSterc out of service no
cause il WAS in a STATE BORDERING c1osei,,
on mutiny. Other cXdmcI, - j,,I,,d,u.r
New Jersey. Maryland. and other organ,
H.lu"iS' are gwen i'll the Enclosed papers
i call your particular attention to the
SPECIAL nciG order of Brig. Gen L. S.
Grant issued from the Headquarters of
the Thirteenth Army Corps on November
H.; lSb2. in reference to the Twentieth
t limos. Members of this regiment had
the value Of some sl2i0, and the rest of
the regiment; including especially two
oniccrS. tailed. in the words of General
fenses" General Grant accordnsly
States the two officer; in question. and
assessed the sum of s12i0 against tho
SAID regiment as whole. officers and
men t. T." assessed pro rata on their
pay. IN ITS essence this action is pre-
though the offence was of course trivial
compared to the offence with which had
to deal. ~
EX-Corporal Hesse recites what oc-
CURED in a United States regular regi-
ment in the spring of 1860. (Corporal
liesse subst quently, when the regiment
was surrendered to the COnfe.lerates bv
General Twiggs. saved the regimcntal
coinrS by wrapping them about his body
under his clothing. and brought them
north IL safety. receiving a medal OF
honor for his actiOn) 1t appears that
certain members Of the regiment ivncted
barkceper who had killed one of the
soldiers. BEING unable to discover the
cplprits. Col. Robert F.. Lee" then in com
mand of the department of Texas. order
ed the company to be diShanded and tho
memters transferred to other compa mics;
and discharged at the end of their enlist
ment without honor. Owing to the out
freak of the Civil wa~ ard the conse-
pu"nt loss Of records ard confusion il is
not nosSble to say what finally became
.; this; ease.
When General Lee was in command of
the Army of Nor.hern Virginia as will
appear from the inClosed clipping from
the Charlotte Observer, he issued ar or
der in Octob 4. 1864. disbandng a certain
battalion for cowardly conduct stating
at the time his regret that there werr
some officers and men hnlonsing to the
organization who although not deserving
It. were obliged to share in the common