The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-20

| ents for the action taken by me occurred
in the shape of the summary discharge
| of regiments or companies because OF
misconduct on the part of some or all OF
| their members. The Sixtieth Ohio was
summary discharged, on the ground that
| the regiment was disorganized, mutinous,
and worthless The Eleventh New York
was discharged by reason of general de-
moralization and numerous assertions.
! Three companies of the Fifth Missouri
| Cavalry and one company of the Fourth
| Missouri Cavalry were mustered out OF
| the service of the United States without
| trial by court martial by reason of mutin-
Gus conduct and dlsaffection of the ma
| jority of the members of these companies
| ian almost exact parallel to my action.
| Another Missouri regiment was mustered
out of service because it was in state
| bordering closely on mutiny Other ex-
| amples including New Jersey Maryland,
| and other organizations, are given In the
! inclosed papers
| call your particular attention to the
| special field order of Brig. Gen. T. s..
| Grant, issued from the headquarters of
| the Thirteenth Army Corps on November
| IS, 1862, In reference to the Twentieth IL
| linois Members of this regiment had
| broken into a store and taken goods to
! the value of some $l,240 and the rest of
| the regiment, including especially two OF
J ficers, failed, in the words OF General
| Grant. to "exercise their authority to fer
ret out the men guilty OF the offenses"
General Grant accordingly mustered out
! of the service of the United States the
| two officers in question. and assessed the
sum of s1.240 against the said regiment as
a whole officers and men to be assessed
pro rata on their pay In its essence this
action is precisely similar to that have
taken: altho the offense was of course
trfxt iaI cd n the offenSe with which
/ had to deal.
Ex-corporal Hesse reeites what occurred
in a United States regular regiment in the
spring of 1860. Corporal Hesse suisse
auently, when the regiment was surrend-
cred to the Confederates by General
Twiggs. saved the regmental colors py
/ wrapping them about his body, under hls
! clothing, and brought them north In
safety, receiving a medal of honor Tor ms
action) 1t appears that certain members
! of the regiment lynched Il barkeepef VINO
had killed one of the soldiers. Being
/ unable to discover the culprits Col. ROD
| ert Il. Lee, then in command OF the De
partment Of Texas, ordered the company
/ TO be disbanded and the members trans
! ferred to other companies and discharged
! at the end of their enlistment without
! honor Owing to the outbreak of the clVii
war, and the consequent loss OF records
and confusion. it is not possibletto say
what finally became OF this case.
| When General Lee was in COMMAND or
| the Army of Northern Virginia, as VIII
| appear from the inclosed clipping from
| the Charlotte Observer. he issued an or
der in October. 1864. disbanding n certain
/ battalion for cowardly conduct, stating Mt
! the time his regret that there were some
| officers and men belonging to the organ
| ization who, altho not deserving it, were
F, obliged to share In the common disgrace
! because the good of the service demand
| ed 1t.
In addition to the discharges of organl-
| zation& which are of course infrequent
! there are continual cases of the discharge
| of individual enlisted men without honor
| and without trial by eOnrt-martlal. The
official record shows that during the rs
| cal year ending June 30, last. such dis
! charges were issued by the War Depart
| ment without trial BY court-martial In
| the cases OF 352 enlisted men OF the Reg
ular Army % of them being on account
! of having become disqualified for serv-
/ ice thru 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 mill
! itary authorities under paragraph 1iS Of