This bureau has continued to allow credits upon this call for all enlistments not reported in time to be contained in report for April, 1865, and for enlistments of regulars and colored troops, up to June 30, 1865. The following table will show the number of men obtained by draft, and the number who paid commutation money, under each call: The column "men furnished" includes substitutes for enrolled men. DUTIES OF THE OFFICE, reports, returns, etc. ་ Up to the date of the organization of this branch of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau accounts had been kept, with States only, of volunteers called for and recruited, in the office of the Adjutant General of the United States. Quotas had been assigned, based upon the male population of the loyal States as shown by the census of 1860, and credits allowed the States from reports of mustering officers. Immediately upon the organization of this branch, accounts were opened with each district of the loyal States; they were charged with all quotas assigned from the Adjutant General's office, and credited with all troops furnished as shown by the records of that office. From organization of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau up to July 1, 1864, quotas on which draft was to be made were assigned by this office, and as mustering officers reported credits to the Adjutant General, they were transmitted to this office and allowed to the proper localities by reporting the same to the acting assistant provost marshal general of the proper State or division. On this date, July 1, 1864, the whole system of keeping accounts was changed. Mustering officers were required to report tri-monthly and monthly the enlistments and musters made by them during these periods to the acting assistant provost marshal general of the State or division to which the recruit was to be credited. The monthly report was accompanied by the proper muster and descriptive roll of the men borne in numbers on the said monthly report, and the acting assistant provost marshal general, in his capacity as superintendent of recruiting service, issued the order to credit to the proper provost marshal. At the end of each month a "return of credits to districts" was made to this office, showing the number and class of credits to each district during the month; also showing the quota assigned and the surplus or deficiency of the district at that date. From these returns the information necessary for the records of this office was extracted. Provost marshals were required to keep accounts with each sub-district in their districts, charging them with quotas, and crediting them with all men raised to their credit by enlistment or draft. They made a return monthly to this office, showing the exact standing of each sub-district on the last day of the month. After a draft was completed provost marshals were required to forward a muster-roll of all men drawn in the draft. During the progress of a draft they forwarded a "weekly abstract of exemptions," showing for what cause each man was exempted. At the expiration of the time for drafted men to report a "final report of the draft" was rendered, showing the number drawn, the number exempted for each cause, and the number who failed to report. Also a muster and descriptive roll of "drafted men held," and a "statement of substitutes accepted and enlisted" during the progress of the draft. The necessary information was extracted from these reports, and they were then filed away for future reference. Various other temporary reports have been received as the exigencies of the service required. This branch is also the repository of the enrolment sheets of the loyal States, consisting of the original enrolment made in May and June, 1863, (bound in book form;) corrections to the same made from November 17, 1863, to January 5, 1864; a revision of the same made during the months of May and June, 1864, and monthly corrections made from July 1, 1864, to April 30, 1865. These sheets make an enormous bulk, weighing several tons. Owing to a want of space they are merely tied up and marked with the name of the State, number of the district, date of corrections, and whether stricken from or added to, and then filed away by States. A report of corrections to the enrolment is made by each provost marshal monthly, showing the number enrolled in each sub-district at date of last report, the number added to or stricken from each during the month, and the number enrolled at the date of the report. From these reports is extracted the figures upon which quotas are based. Tri-monthly reports of business and general transactions have always been rendered by provost marshals. These reports are in the form of a letter, and often contain valuable information and suggestions. A full set of record books is kept by the branch, consisting of "letters received," "letters sent," "indorsements and memoranda," "quotas and credits by States," and "quotas and credits by districts." An average of about five hundred communications have been received monthly, fully nine-tenths of which require to be answered by letter or indorsement. Those not returned with indorsement are neatly filed away. Communications to this branch relate principally to questions of enrolment, disputed credits, requests for certificates of credit to obtain local bounty, and applications for return of commutation money, each involving much time and labor in their proper investigation. Applications for return of commutation money receive the most rigid scrutiny, and require a close examination of the papers presented in connexion with orders and circulars, and a careful consideration of the circumstances attending each case. In all cases before a claim is decided upon, a report and opinion of the board of enrolment of the district in which the claim originated is required. The following will show the number of applications heretofore received by this branch, and the disposition made of them." Whole number of applications received, 757; number approved and ordered to be paid, 311; number disapproved and filed, 297; number now on hand, 149. THE GENERAL RESULT As to the number of men obtained for the army and navy by this bureau, since its organization, may be summed up as follows: Product of the drafts (men) 168, 649 Number who paid commutation money for the procuration of substitutes, under act March 3, 1863 .. 85, 457 Number who paid commutation money under sec. 17, act of February 1,267 1,076, 558 In connexion herewith I have the honor to submit a statement of the number of men called for by the President of the United States, and the number furnished by each State, Territory, and the District of Columbia, from April 15, 1861, to April 30, 1865; also, a table containing the results as shown by the final reports of the draft under calls of July, 1863, March 14, 1864, (which includes calls of October 17, 1863, and February 1, 1864,) July 18, 1864, and December 19, 1864. I will here conclude the report of the branch under my charge. and respectfully, submit the following GENERAL REMARKS. Several suggestions present themselves in relation to enrolment, recruiting, substitution, bounties, &c., among which the following are offered as worthy of attention. Enrolment. In a population so largely floating as is that of the United States. much trouble will always exist in securing an accurate enrolment; and in order to do so as far as practicable, it is recommended that enrolling officers be appointed only after a careful examination into their capacity and integrity, and that all persons between the prescribed ages be compelled, by such laws as may hereafter be enacted, to appear before the enrolling officer of their sub-district or board of enrolment of the district, and enroll themselves, giving age, residence, and occupation, or be exempted if not liable to do military duty; and all those who voluntarily fail to report should be subject to such penalties and liabilities as Congress may prescribe, and men arriving at the designated age for liability for military duty should, with those passing beyond and once enrolled, be compelled to report the fact to such officer connected with the board of enrolment of the district as may be designated for the locality in which they reside. In like manner let it be made the duty of all persons liable to do military duty coming into a district for the purpose of acquiring a residence, or removing from a district with intention to reside elsewhere, to report as aforesaid to the proper officer for enrolment; and it should be made the duty of each district provost marshal to furnish the provost marshal of the district from which such new resident had removed, with a certificate that he had been duly enrolled, and until such certificate is received let it be unlawful to strike the name of such person from the list. It should be made the duty of the local authorities to furnish the boards of enrolment within whose district they exercise jurisdiction, with a monthly or quarterly report of the death of such persons as were liable to the performance of military duty, in order that the rolls may be kept continuously correct. Enrolling officers, assuming them to be men of fidelity and integrity, might safely be instructed not to enroll persons manifestly and permanently disabled, as, from "total blindness," "loss of right eye," 99 66 deafness," "loss of a limb or limbs," "permanent lameness," &c., &c.; the particular disabilities which he might act upon could be enumerated after the manner of the list of "disqualifying diseases" now enumerated in the Regulations, or he might be instructed to report the names of such persons upon separate rolls, stating the disability in full for the action of the proper authority. Duty and interest would be combined to secure a reasonably correct enrolment; and by the enactment of a statute making it obligatory upon every male person in the United States, who had reached the age rendering him liable to military duty, to report himself for registry (or enrolment) as above, and making the neglect to do so a penal offence, punishable, for instance, with disfranchisement until the law was complied with, and in case the names of such persons failing to report for registry should be communicated to the board through other sources, requiring them if drafted and accepted to serve personally, the desired end might be attained. The foregoing should apply to all aliens, to persons having conscientious. scruples against bearing arms, and to all classes and description of persons, without distinction, whose ages are within the prescribed limits. The interests of the general government demand that the enrolment should be kept well up. The migratory character of the population of this country, especially in the western States, and the anticipated changes in the population of and migration to the southern States, renders this necessary if it is expected to arrive at the true or even approximate military strength of the Union. The enrolment, and corrections thereto, up to April 30, 1865, is as near perfect as possible, under the present system, in the States not engaged in the late rebellion; but, as whatever legislation is taken on the subject of enrolment hereafter must embrace all the States and Territories, it would, in my opinion, be as well to start with a new general enrolment as a basis upon which continuous corrections could be made from time to time and in the manner above contemplated. The enrolment law was at first considered by a large majority of the people as arbitrary and unjust, and all those concerned in its execution were regarded with prejudice and distrust. This law with its various amendments is now recognized as necessary, liberal, and humane, and full confidence is expressed in the integrity and impartiality of those who were appointed to administer it. The laws governing the Provost Marshal General's bureau are well adapted to its workings, and the amendments adopted have been suggested by experience and have proved practically beneficial. Substitution.-By act of Congress, (secs. 4 and 5, act of February 24, 1864,) any person enrolled may furnish at any time previous to a draft an acceptable substitute who is not liable to draft, nor at the time in the military or naval service of the United States, and such person so furnishing a substitute shall be exempt from draft during the time for which such substitute shall have been accepted; and any person drafted into the military service of the United States may, before the time fixed for his appearance for duty at the draft rendezvous, furnish an acceptable substitute who may or may not be liable to draft; if liable to draft, the name of the principal shall be again placed on the roll, and shall be liable to draft on future calls, but not until the present enrolment shall be exhausted; if the substitute is not liable to draft, the principal shall be exempt during the time for which such substitute is not liable to draft; in either case the exemption shall not exceed the term for which such person shall have been drafted. Section 16, act of March 3, 1865, provides that persons who were drafted for one year and who furnished substitutes for three years should be exempt from military duty during the time for which such substitutes were not liable to draft, not exceeding the time for which such substitutes were mustered into service, anything in the act of February 24, 1864, to the contrary notwithstanding. The system of substitution is, within itself, very simple, and is doubtless the most practical and equitable way of avoiding personal service by those who, from inclination, business interests, or other causes, were unwilling to give personal response to the calls of the government. The services rendered by a large number of substitutes have been valuable, while in some instances the reverse of this is true, owing in part to the disreputable character of the substitutes themselves, and to the bad influences brought to bear upon them by an unprincipled class of men usually termed "substitute brokers," who tempted and instructed them in the arts of desertion and "bounty jumping." To guard against the enlistment of this class of men, boards of enrolment should be required to conform strictly to the requirements of par. 7, circular No. 33, Provost Marshal General's office, series of 1863, which reads as follows: "All persons who may be drafted and who desire to present substitutes shall give notice in writing to the board of enrolment that on such a day they will present a substitute, giving his name, residence, age, and state whether he is an alien or citizen." The principal should be required personally to present his substitute, who should undergo a rigid examination with a view to his moral as well as physical qualifications, and if accepted the principal should pay the sum in the United States treasury to be paid to the substitute as hereinafter recommended. Substitute brokers should not be allowed access to the office of the provost marshal during the examination of the substitute unless accompanied by the principal, nor be permitted to see the substitute after enlistment. With few exceptions, these brokers are the most reckless and disreputable class of men to be found in the country, and were they allowed free access to the recruits or substitutes after enlistment, they would entice and aid them to desert by the use of every artifice a fertile imagination could invent. Bounties. It is respectfully recommended that, instead of paying large local bounties "in hand" to recruits or substitutes, it be paid into the treasury of the United States, and that provisions be made for its payment by instalments extending through the term of service for which the man enlists, and that the amount retained and unpaid should be forfeited to the United States in the event of desertion, and thus avoiding the inducements to desert for the purpose of jumping other bounties, to those who enlist merely for bounty with a deterinination to escape on the first opportunity. While government bounties only were paid, the men enlisted were of a good class and could be relied upon, but as soon as large local bounties were offered and paid in advance a set of desperate characters presented themselves who would enlist and "jump" bounties as often as opportunities presented. A man now in the Albany penitentiary, undergoing an imprisonment of four years, confessed to having "jumped the bounty" thirty-two times. General Order No. 305, Adjutant General's office, series of 1864, goes far towards preventing desertion up to the time that the recruit arrives at his regiment and receives his first payment. With the first payment he receives the bounty, (retained until the recruit arrives at his regiment, and paid at the time he receives his first payment, as required by the terms of the order,) and with this, usually, large amount of money at his disposal, if of the elass alluded to, he deserts immediately. Reporting and distributing credits.-Under existing orders, monthly reports of commissaries of musters and muster-in rolls are forwarded to the acting assistant provost marshal general of the State or division to which the musters are to be credited, and he, (the acting assistant provost marshal general,) after taking the necessary data for credit, is required to transfer the reports and rolls to the adjutant general of the State. Credits are given from the reports, verified from the muster-in rolls. It has frequently happened that the roll arrived before the report, or vice versa. As a general rule, the roll seldom accompanies the report. To remedy this objection it is respectfully recommended that, if practicable, the commissaries of musters should be required to forward the rolls and reports together; otherwise there is no way of verification, as the credits are distributed as soon as reports are received by the acting assistant provost marshal general. As the reports and accompanying rolls are both transferred to the adjutant general of the State, there is nothing left in the office of the acting assistant provost marshal general to support his accounts in the matter of distribution of credits, or for reference to settle questions concerning disputed credits.. The muster-in rolls contain all the information required by the State authorities, and it is recommended that, in case it is impracticable for the commissary of musters to forward the report and rolls together, the report be retained by the acting assistant provost marshal general for his voucher, and that discretion be given him to allow credits from the rolls in case they arrive before the corresponding reports are received, and that mustering officers be instructed to indorse upon their reports the name, place of credit, period of service, organization for which mustered, and date of muster of each man borne, in numbers, upon the report. This appears to me to be the only method by which |
