Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-19


deny emphatieally that such is the case.
because as punishment ii is utterly made
quate. The punishment meet for mutineers
and murderers such as those guilty of the
Brownsville assault is DEATH and a pun
iShment only less severe ought to be meted
out to those who have aided and abssted
mutiny and murder and treason by refus-
Ing to help in their detection | would that
1t were possible for me to have punished
the guilty men. | regret most keenly that
l have not been able to do So
Be 1t remembered always that these men
were all In the service of the United States
under contracts of enlistment, which by
their terms and by statute were terminable
by my direction as commander in chief of
the army. 1t was my clear duty to ter
inmate those contracts when the public
interest demanded Il; and it would have
been betrayal of the public interest on my
part not to terminate the contracts which
were keeping in the service of the United
states body of mutineers and murderers.
Any assertion that these men were dealt
with harshly because they were colored
men Is utterly without foundation. Officers
who were guilty Of such conduct would have
been treated in precisely the same way:
for there can be nothing more important
than for the United States army, in all its
membership, to understand that its arms
cannot be turned with impunity against the
peace and order OF the civil community.
There are plenty of presidents for the ac-
ton taken. l call your attention to the
military secretary's Office of the War De-
partment, and memorandum from the
military secretary inclosing piece by ex-
corporal Hesse, now chief of division in
the military secretary's Office. together with
letter from District Attorney James Will
kinson Of New Orleans.
The district attorneys letter recites sew
eral cases in which white United States
soldiers. being arrested for crime, were
tried. and every soldier and employee of the
regiment, or In the fort at which the SOL
yuyn0 rfo ro1 ,r11,, IN
knew. both before and at the trial. so as to
secure justice. In one case the soldier was
acquitted. In another case the soldier was
convicted OF murder. the conviction result
ing from the fact that every solder, from
the commanding officer to the humblest pri
vate. united in securing all the evidence in
their power about the crime. In other
cases, for less offense. soldiers were con-
victed purely because their comrades In
arms. ina spirit OF fine loyalty to the
honor of the service. at once told the whole
story of the troubles and declined TO iden-
tify themselves with the criminals.
During the civil war numerous prece-
dents for the action taken by me occurred
in the shape Of the summary discharge of
conduct on the part Of some or all of their
members. The S9th Ohio was summarily
discharged, on the ground that the regi-
ment was disorganized mutinous and
worthless. The 18th New York was dis
charged by reason of general demora'iza-
| ton and numerous assertions. Three COM
! panies of the 9Th Missouri Cavalry and
| one company of the 4th Missouri Cavalry
were mustered out of the service of the
| United States without trial by court-mar-
| tial by reason of mutinous conduct and
disafrection Of the majority of the mem
bers of these companies tan almost exact
| parallel to my action). Another Missouri
| regiment was mustered out of service be-
| cause 1t was in state bordering closely
on mutiny. Other examples. including New
| Jersey, Maryland and other organizations,
| are given in the incloSed papers
1 call your particular attention to the
! special field order of Brig. Gen. U. S.
| Grant. issued from the headquarters of
| the 18th Army Corps on November IS,
1852 in reference to the Goth Illinois.
| Members of this regiment had broken into
store and taken goods to the value OF
| including especially two officers failed in
| the words of Gen. Grant, to exercise their
| authority to ferret out the men guilty of
| the offenses.' Gen. Grant accordingly
mustered out of the service of the United
| States the two officers in question and as
| sessed the sum of S1,240 against the said
regiment as whole officers and men to
| be assessed pro rata on their pay. In its
essence this action is precisely similar to
| that 1 have taken; although the offense
| was of course trivial compared to the Of
| Tense with which l have to deal
+ EX-CorpOral HeSSe reciteS what occurred
| in a United States regular regiment i'm the
| spring of 1860. Corporal Hesse subsequent
| ly, when the regiment was surrendered to
H.
regimental colors by wrapping them about
his body, under his clothing. and brought
them north in safety. receiving a medal
of honor for his action) 1t appears that
certain members of the regiment lynched
a barkeeper who had killed of the SOL
diers Being unable to discover the cul-
prits Col Robert f. Lee, then in command
of the Department of Texas, ordered the
company to be disbanded and the members
transferred to other companies and dis
charged at the end of their enlistment.
without honor Owing to the outbreak of
the civil war, and the consequent loss of
records and confusion, it is not possible to
say what finally became of this case.
When Gen. Lee was in command of the
Army of Northern Virginia, as will appear
from the inclosed clipping from the Char
lotte Observer, he issued order in Oc-
tober, 1864, dsbanding certain battalion
for cOwardly conduct, stating at the time
and men belonging to the organization who,
although not deserving it, were obliged to
share in the common disgrace because the
good of the service demanded it.
In addition to the discharges of organi-
cations, which are Of course infrequent,
there are continual cases of the discharge
of individual enlisted without honor
and without trial by court-martial. The
official record shows that during the fiscal
year ending June 80 last such discharges
were issued by the War Department with
out trial by court-martial in the cases of
352 enlisted men of the regular army, thir-
ty-five of them being account of having
become disqualified for service through own
misconduct" Moreover, in addition to the
discharges without honor ordered by the
War Department, there were a considerable
number of discharges without honor issued
by subordinate military authorities under
paragraph 148 of the Army Regulations,
where the service has not been honest
and faithful-that is, where the service
does not warrant re-enlistment."
So much for the military side of the case.
But / wish to say something additional.
from the standpoint of the race question.
In my message at the opening of the
Congress I discussed the matter of lynch
ing. In 1t 1 gave utterance to the alb
horrence which all decent citizens should
feel for the deeds of the men Tin almost
all cases white mem who take part in
lynchings, and at the same time l con-
demned as all decent men of any color
should condemn. the action of those col
ored men who actively or passively shield
the colored criminal from the law. In the
case of these companies we had to
deal with men who in the first place
were guilty of what was practically the
worst possible form Of lynching-for a
lynching is in it's essence lawless and muir
derous vengeance taken by an armed mob
for real or fancied wrongs-and who in the
second place covered up the crime of
lynching by standing with a vicious solid
arity to protect the criminals.
IA the m Ia al