The business in my office relating to deserters has formed a distinct branch, as heretofore shown in statement of the organization of the office. It received the earliest attention of the bureau, and was continually looked after with special care. The report of the officer lately in immediate charge of it is in Appendix, Doc. 71

On the 16th of July, 1863, the reward for apprehending a deserter was increased to ten dollars, ($10,) and in September, 1863, it was further increased to thirty dollars, ($30,) at which it remained until March 11, 1865, when an order was issued by the Secretary of War discontinuing all rewards for the arrest of deserters; this order having, however, been since modified so as to allow the reward of thirty dollars ($30) for the arrest of deserters from the regular army.

As required by orders, the various commanders of troops made to this office, from time to time, reports of the desertions from their commands. From these documents, which, however, are not entirely complete, it appears that two hundred and sixty-eight thousand five hundred and thirty (268,530) desertions have taken place since the war commenced in 1861. But it must be borne in mind that many of those embraced in this return were not deserters in fact, but men who, without the knowledge of their officers, became unavoidably absent from various causes-sickness, injuries, accidents, intentionally or unintentionally overstaying their furloughs, &c., and being reported to this office as deserters, went to swell the aggregate, notwithstanding that their absence was afterwards satisfactorily accounted for. This aggregate is further increased by the fact that the same men deserted and were reported more than once.

In the war just closed there was too much marching and fighting to permit regimental and company commanders to make full and accurate returns, covering all points; but from the best data furnished, it is thought that the aggregate of desertions, two hundred and sixty-eight thousand five hundred and thirty, (268,530,) should be reduced twenty-five per cent. on the above account, leaving the actual desertions two hundred and one thousand three hundred and ninetyseven, (201,397.) This includes drafted men who deserted after being exainined and held to service, but does not include the drafted men who failed to report in response to the draft.

It will be observed from the table,* that of those reported as deserters, ninetytwo thousand and ninety-five, (92,095,) or nearly two-fifths of all reported, de serted prior to April 1, 1863, when the duty of their arrest was assumed by this bureau. It is not known how many deserters were arrested between the beginning of the war and April 1, 1863. Since that date, seventy-five thousand nine hundred and nine (75,909) have been arrested through the instrumentality of this bureau, making an average of about three thousand (3,000) per month. Thus nearly two-thirds as many deserters have been arrested by this bureau and returned to the service as have deserted since the bureau was established. When it is remembered that some of these criminals joined the enemy and more went to foreign parts, it is fair to conclude that no large proportion remained with impunity within our jurisdiction. It is known, however, that many have returned, since, with the close of the war, danger of arrest and punishment passed away.

SPECIAL CAUSES OPERATING TO PRODUCE DESERTION IN The united STATES ARMY DURING THE LATE REBELLION.

In the late war of rebellion there seem to have been some special causes operating to produce desertion, which it is well to mention in detail:

First. For the first two years of the war the government had to depend on the services, voluntarily presented, of men who, with abundant patriotism, had

*See Appendix, Doc. 7.

no knowledge of military law and obligation, and no conception of discipline; men who had always freely acted according to their own ideas and wishes, restrained by no other legal requirements than those of the civil law governing a free people. It is not strange that among such men, many should have absented themselves, in the beginning of the war, from ignorance as to their duties and obligations, and become technically deserters, but without really deserting the flag or abandoning the cause. It is a well-ascertained fact that numbers who deserted the commands to which they belonged in the early part of the war subsequently joined other branches of the service, without the inducements of bounty, and proved to be good and faithful soldiers. The mode of organizing troops was fruitful of evil in this regard. The men elected their officers, generally without knowledge as to the requirements of the places to be filled, or the fitness of the persons chosen. The majority ruled in the election, and issues not connected with the military service often governed it. A dissatisfied and often highly intelligent minority was frequently the result, and desertion, both before and after sufficient trial to prove the fitness or the unfitness of the officers, occurred, and was regarded by the parties resorting to it more as a refusal on their part to ratify a contract than as the commission of a grave crime. The remedy for this was only to be found in abandoning the system of electing officers, and adopting that of having them appointed by those competent to judge of their qualifications for the duty required.

Second. The large bounties paid to recruits both encouraged and facilitated desertion, as explained in the chapter on bounties.

Third. The want of adequate means for the arrest of deserters in the early part of the war, and the consequent impunity with which they returned to and remained at their homes, and the failure to administer prompt and adequate punishment for the worst phases of the crime, when occasion offered, contributed more, perhaps, than anything else, to the evil of desertion.

The evils of desertion do not need enumeration. There was one, however, which may be mentioned as particularly observable during the war, viz: the discouragement to volunteering that resulted from the exaggerations indulged in by deserters as to the harsh treatment they had met with, and the false stories they spread abroad of the cruelty and unnecessary hardships to which the men were subjected by their officers.

Lives sacrificed, battles lost, and war prolonged, in consequence of the depletion of the ranks of the armies by desertion, were the natural fruits of the want of rigor in dealing with this evil in the early stages of the war. Undue mercy

to deserters was in reality harsh cruelty to those who remained true to their flag.

PART IX.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND STATISTICS.

For the proper instruction of surgeons of boards of enrolment, and establishment of a uniform understanding of the prescribed medical regulations, it became necessary to organize a branch to which all medical questions should be referred. For this purpose the medical branch of this bureau was organized January 11, 1864.

Forms for medical record-books of the examination of recruits, substitutes, drafted and enrolled men, were at once prepared and forwarded to the surgeons of the several boards of enrolment, with circular letters containing full information as to the appropriate construction of the several sections of paragraph 85 of the revised regulations of the bureau, which defines the diseases and infirmities

Medical officers were detailed as inspectors of boards of enrolment, and instructed in reference to their duties. During the operations of the draft, these officers made frequent tours of inspection, and contributed largely to the establishment of a uniform system of medical examination.

Monthly medical reports, containing the date of examination, name, age, occupation, residence, nativity, height, color of eyes, hair and complexion, chest measurement, married or single, white or colored, physique, and results of examination, were required from surgeons of boards of enrolment, and examined and tabulated by the medical branch of the bureau.

By means of these records a complete history of the medical examination of one million fourteen thousand seven hundred and seventy-six (1,014,776) men has been preserved. It afforded the means of examining into complaints as to improper action in holding to service or enlisting men physically unfit, with an intelligent understanding of the facts in the case, and insured a radical discovery and exposure of attempte at fraudulent enlistment.

The medical statistics which the bureau has thus been able to collect, a portion of which accompanies this report,* are greater in extent, and believed to contain, in a minute and available form, more valuable information than this, or perhaps any other, country has hitherto possessed.

PART X.

THE VETERAN RESERVE Corps.

As heretofore stated, the laws for enrolling and drafting the national forces. and arresting deserters, under which this bureau was instituted, were adopted solely from the necessity of strengthening the armies in the field to an extent sufficient to insure success against the enemy. To realize this purpose in the fullest measure, it was desirable to avoid any weakening of the force then in the field by employing a portion of it in enforcing these laws. The first steps towards organizing this bureau, however, showed the indispensability of a military force of some kind for the efficient execution of the various provisions of the enrol

ment act.

A plan was therefore submitted by my letter of April 17, 1863, by which it was proposed: 1st, to retain the military services, for garrison, hospital, and provost duty, of that class of deserving officers and men who, from wounds received in action, or disease contracted in the service, were unfit for further duty in the field, and who would otherwise be discharged, but were still able to perform light duty; 2d, to bring back for like purpose those who had previously been discharged on similar grounds, were unfit for active service and not liable to draft.

The necessity for the action taken on this plan was not limited to the wants of this bureau. The drain caused by the war on the able-bodied men of the country had been so severe that an intelligent economy of the public strength demanded that some portion of the vast numbers of soldiers unfit for field service should be utilized for military purposes. To enlist or conscript men, except under the extremest pressure of necessity, would have been cruelty and folly. But to keep in service experienced soldiers, who were simply disabled for the march, to relieve with them at least an equal number of able-bodied men, who could thus be sent to the front, to provide the government with a reliable military police force, urgently needed in time of raids, riots, and the like, and to constitute a garrison force with unity of organization and purpose, and of high military esprit, and all this without the expense of recruitment or the severity of

*See Appendix, Doc. 8.

conscription, seemed to be a most desirable object. That the object was attained to an extent not at first even hoped for, the history of the Veteran Reserve Corps fully attests.

It is proper to state that prior to the organization of the corps, the practice of discharging partially disabled soldiers had been somewhat limited, and that some of the invalids were required to perform light duties. Being, however, retained on the rolls of their respective companies, they weakened the army, for, though absent in person, their places could not be filled by recruits, as they formed part of the authorized strength of the organizations to which they belonged.

The plan of organization for the Invalid or Veteran Reserve Corps was announced in General Orders No. 105, dated April 28, 1863.* The Provost Marshal General was charged with the execution of the order, and the troops raised under it were placed under his control. Stringent measures were adopted with a view to admitting only such disabled officers of good habits as were well indorsed for good conduct in the field, and possessed of the industry, education, and intelligence necessary to make efficient officers and form an honorable as well as useful corps.

Competent boards were instituted to examine the officers applying for admission, the question of disability being determined by médical men in the service of the government. No applicant was examined for appointment until he had filed in this office satisfactory recommendations, from his superiors in the field, as to good character and behavior in active service.

There were three sources from which the material for the formation of the corps could be drawn: 1. Men still in the field who had been disabled by wounds, or by disease contracted in the line of duty; 2. Men absent from their colors in hospitals or convalescent camps, or otherwise under the control of medical officers; 3. Men who had been honorably discharged on account of wounds or other disability, resulting from military service. Officers as well as soldiers were received from these three classes, and from these alone.

The material thus obtained was at first organized into companies and battalions of infantry. The companies were composed of men from various States, and often from all the different arms of the service, thus adding to the ordinary difficulties of organization, discipline, and instruction. These were, however, rapidly overcome through the industry, zeal, and ability with which the instructions of the bureau were carried out by the officers of the corps, who were selected with great care and regard both to gallantry and fitness.

Before the end of June, 1863, (prior to the commencement of the first draft,) sixteen (16) companies of the first battalion and six (6) of the second battalion were in readiness for duty. The number rapidly increased until the returns of October 31, 1863, showed the corps to consist of four hundred and ninety-one (491) officers and seventeen thousand seven hundred and sixty-four (17,764) enlisted men.

The first battalion companies were composed of men capable of carrying muskets and performing garrison duty. The second battalion companies were composed of men of an inferior degree of physical ability, but who were fit for hospital duty, as guards, clerks, attendants, &c. They were armed with swords and pistols.

On the 5th of September, 1863, the organization of regiments was authorized. Each regiment was made to comprise six (6) companies of the first battalion and four (4) of the second, the design being, that each regiment thus constituted should be able to furnish proper details at any point where it might be stationed for garrison and hospital duty. After trial it was found best to have the

regiments composed only of first battalion companies, and their organization was modified accordingly. The second battalion companies were retained as separate organizations, and were finally, March 21, 1865, turned over to the medical department of the army, for which they had always been mainly intended.

On the 1st of October, 1864, the corps consisted of seven hundred and sixtyfour (764) commissioned officers and twenty-eight thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight (28,738) enlisted men, organized into twenty-four (24) complete infantry regiments of the first battalion and one hundred and fifty-three (153) unassigned companies of the second battalion.

On the 31st of May, 1865, the corps consisted of seven hundred and sixtytwo (762) commissioned officers and twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-two (29,852) enlisted men.

As soon as it was ascertained, in April, 1865, that the rebellion was overcome, the appointment of officers and the enlistment and transfer of men to the corps were discontinued. The orders of the War Department for the reduction of the vast volunteer army were made so far applicable to the Veteran Reserve Corps as to allow the discharge of all who desired it. This resulted in reducing the corps, by the 31st of December, 1865, to six hundred and fortyfour (644) commissioned officers and less than one thousand enlisted men. The men were consolidated into independent companies and officered, and the remainder of the officers, not on special service, were ordered to their homes to await instructions. Two hundred and ninety-five (295) of the officers are on duty in the Freedmen's Bureau.

On the 13th of December, 1865, a resolution passed the House of Representatives requesting the Secretary of War to suspend action as to mustering out the officers of the corps until the subject could be considered by Congress.

Over sixty thousand (60,000) men entered the Veteran Reserve Corps, and at one time it was twice as large as was the entire regular army at the commencement of the war. The discipline and instruction acquired by the corps were highly creditable. Its services were always valuable, but were too varied to be briefly enumerated, inasmuch as, where one regiment escorted thousands of prisoners convalescents, recruits, and conscripts, whose numbers can be given with accuracy, another simply defended and held important military lines and positions, aided in the enrolment and draft, or guarded vast depots of public property, thus performing duty which, from its nature, is not capable of exact definition. During its entire existence the corps was in the performance of duties which would otherwise have been necessarily performed by as great a number of able-bodied troops detached from the armies in the field. Its career has been one of usefulness as well as of honor; it has accomplished all that could have been hoped of it, and more. Men who could no longer endure a full day's march, but who could still garrison important positions, hold lines of defence, and otherwise promote the public interests, have held its commissions and filled its ranks. Of every hundred (100) of its officers, eighty-two (82) were disabled by gunshot wounds; thirteen (13) by disease; five (5) by accidental injuries; and all in the service of their country in her time of need. Tried on their entrance to the corps by the requisites of good character, meritorious military history, and invalidism contracted in the execution of soldierly duty, the officers and men have performed their varied and responsible labors with zeal, integrity, ability, and educated intelligence. To the justice and magnanimity of the nation, in the claims they may present for further military service or other suitable employment, I recommend the many officers and men of the corps who have so far suffered for their country that they can no longer put forth their full strength for their own support.