Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1921-05-13

were the official records" in
many cases of Civil War Soldiers
in the War Department, and as
many OF them are today, it was to
be supposed that the vast paper
work" machinery OF the World
War had reduced injustice and
error to minimum. In the
Lowndes administration the
Maryland legislature authorized
the publication by a commission
on which were Adjutant-General
L. Allison Wilmer, DR.. ]. H. Jar
rett and Col. George w. F. Yer
non of the records OF the Mary
land Union soldiers in the Civil
War as found in the archives OF
the War Department and else.
where. After surprising num-
Der of the names of these soldiers
is found the word deserted" In
a large percentage OF these eases,
the record of "desertion" was
made because for some. reason the
soldier failed to appear at morn
ing roll-call Even if he had fal-
len into the hands of the enemy
he was marked deserted" The
records of the reports on private
pension cases in Congress are a
revelation to anybody who has
ever studied them. Thousands
upon thousands of good Unioi
soldiers in Maryland and other
States have gone to their graves
leaving behind them in the rec
ords OF the War Department an
injustice TO themselves and their
descendants that cans never be
corrected. In many thousands OF
cases Congress. sitting as a court
OF equity, during the last half
century has ordered the erasing
! of "desertion" or the granting of
an honorable discharge. Hun
dreds of families in Maryland
have the satisfaction of knowing
that subsequent to 1898 a
soldier ancestor has thus had his
case reviewed-but the official
lroster OF volunteers in the Civil
War of the State of Maryland has
him marked deserted" "A
Stacker in the World War is
as opprobious a term, as desert
er" was in the sixties. nf
| What is there about the red
tape of the War Department that
clings so blindly to the Original
record?" When Roosevelt was
president he announced that he
would sign no bill changing the
military record of any Union sol
der; that if in 40 years an hum
| bic and impoverished and friend
less man had not appealedfto I'll"
authorities at. Washington and
persuaded them to make the
lproper entry on their secret ar
chives, the door of hope" should
be shut to him. Mears ;agop one
Secretary of the Interior had
thrown open" the records, it was
claimed, and stood ready. on the
submission of proper proof, to
make corrections. A commend
able proceeding, truly; but small
indeed was the percentage of old
soldiers who knew how they
were recorded, or had the time,
the money and the opportunity
to hire lawyers or journey to
Washington One case explains
thousands: The Junior major de
facto of Powell Clayton's Fifth
Kansas Cavalry was long a pros
porous railroad contractor after
the war. In his old age he APP
piled for a pension under the Act
of 1890. Promptly the Pension
Office reported that he had no
'pensionable status" being enter
ed on the rolls as "deserter.
Investigation proved that this SOL
der. who fought for four years
in the canebrakes of Arkansas and
The swamps of Missouri, at
Helena and other battles in the
Southwest, and who was a well
come guest at Washington until
death ended human association of
Powell Clayton and his estin-
able wife, had failed to report at
one morning roll-call for the good
and sufficient reason that Sterl-
inc Prices men had cant,,red him