ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



37 



required to take their fair share of fatigue duty with 

 ivhite troops. This is necessary to prepare them for 

 the higher duties of conflicts with the enemy. 

 By order of the Secretary of War. 



L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. 



The colored regiments continued to be offi- 

 cered by white men, who were subjected to an 

 unusually strict examination by a board ap- 

 pointed for that purpose. Tip to August, the 

 total number of officers examined amounted 

 to 2,471, of whom 1,486 were accepted. 



Although desertions from the service during 

 the year were not so numerous as in the early 

 years of the war, when discipline was less 

 strict, and the offence was considered in a less 

 odious light, the number has still been suffi- 

 ciently large to cause the Government con- 

 ^siderable embarrassment. This resulted in a 

 great measure from the inferior class of men 

 enlisted into the army through the medium of 

 bounty and substitute brokers, and from the 

 unwise leniency shown by the Government to 

 offenders. For a long time the death penalty 

 seems to have been practically abolished, and 

 the activity of the Provost Marshals had in 

 consequence little or no effect in lessening the 

 number of absentees without leave. Unprinci- 

 pled men, having no fear of execution before 

 then* eyes, risked the chance of recapture and 

 the comparatively slight punishment which 

 would follow, and escaped with their bounty 

 money, a few weeks, or even days, after being 

 mustered into the service. As an illustration 

 of the extent to which the practice was car- 

 ried, it is stated that out of a detachment of 

 625 recruits sent to reinforce a New Hampshire 

 regiment in the Army of the Potomac, 137 de- 

 serted on the passage, 82 to the enemy's picket 

 line, and 36 to the rear, leaving but 370 men, 

 or less than 60 per cent, available for duty. 

 These men, it may be observed, were for the 

 most part substitutes, or recruits purchased 

 through brokers at exorbitant prices to fill up a 

 quota, and who, as " bounty jumpers," drove a 

 profitable business, some of them having prob- 

 ably received bounty, deserted, and reenlisted 

 eight or ten times. The drafted men, or those 

 personally volunteering, were, as a class, free 

 from this vice. The desertions in the Army of 

 the Potomac were greatly increased by a proc- 

 lamation from Gen. Lee (intended as an offset 

 to one issued by Gen. Grant), offering to send 

 Federal deserters North. Thousands probably 

 availed themselves of this opportunity, and 

 found their way back to the loyal States, there 

 perhaps to retnlist and again desert; and a 

 small percentage entered the rebel service. The 

 evil finally increased to such a degree that the 

 death penalty was restored and unsparingly 

 used. Daring the latter part of the year exe- 

 cutions of deserters were of almost daily occur- 

 rence in the Army of the Potomac, and almost 

 immediately a diminution in the number of 

 cases was observable, which has continued to 

 the present time. 



Another, but less numerous class of deserters, 



w.-i< composed of men who had escaped from 

 hospitals, or had never returned from furlough, 

 of whom several thousand had taken refuge in 

 the British provinces. Numbers of these, upon 

 expressing contrition and a desire to return to 

 duty, were pardoned by the President. The total 

 number of deserters of all kinds was estimated 

 by Senator Wilson, in March, at 40,000, and it 

 has probably not materially increased since that- 

 time. The Provost Marshal General reported 

 39,392 deserters and stragglers arrested by his 

 officers between Oct. 1st, 1868, and Oct. 1st, 

 1864, and the total number arrested, from the 

 establishment of the special bureau having 

 charge of the matter to Oct. 1st, 1864, at 

 60,760. Boards of examination have been kept 

 up to inquire into causes of absence from duty 

 by officers. The effect has been to diminish 

 the number of cases published and referred to 

 the boards to 364, for 11 months; whereas, be- 

 fore then* organization, from 100 to 200 were re- 

 ported monthly for absence without leave alone. 

 The operations connected with the Quarter- 

 master-General's department were, during the 

 year, on an extensive scale, and the army was 

 reported to have been well supplied with all 

 the essentials of military equipment, with fuel, 

 forage, and other necessaries, and to have 

 gained in mobility. By an act approved July 

 4th, 1864, the department was thoroughly re- 

 organized, so that the grades of rank and au- 

 thority should be proportioned to the duties 

 and responsibilities ; and the change has 

 proved in every respect beneficial. Among 

 the new organizations connected with this 

 department was a construction corps, under 

 the direction of General McCullum, which 

 operated upon a thousand miles of railroad in 

 connection with the movements of the armies, 

 and whose labors are characterized by the 

 Secretary of War as ; ' remarkable triumphs of 

 military and engineering skill/' Six thousand 

 five hundred miles of military telegraph were 

 in operation in 1864, of which 3,000 were con- 

 structed during the year. The supply of horses 

 and mules for army use has been at the rate 

 of 500 per day, which is also the average rate 

 of their destruction ; and notwithstanding this 

 enormous drain upon the resources of the 

 country, the stock gives no signs of diminution. 

 The Secretary of "War also reports, that for the 

 better protection of the depots of the quarter- 

 master's bureau from rebel raids, the Quarter- 

 master-General was directed to cause the per- 

 sons employed in this department, at the prin- 

 cipal and exposed depots, to be organized into 

 military companies and regiments for internal 

 guard duty and for local defence. These or- 

 ganizations, comprising a force of several thou- 

 sand men, have been called upon several times 

 during the last year to take the place of reg- 

 ular troops, and have done good service. 



On June 30th, 1864, 190 hospitals, with a 

 capacity of 120,521 beds, were in active 

 operation ; and during the year the health of 

 the entire army was reported be*>er than is 



