surgeons' EEPOETS PENNSYLVANIA — ELEVENTH DISTRICT. 319 



will call " B," having some disability about him, unfitting him for military service, will i)resent 

 himself, as a volunteer, lor examination, ami, after being rejected, will pass out of the examining- 

 room, among those who have preceded him. Then a companion, " C,'' who, having been frequently 

 examined before, knows himself to be a fit subject for enlistment, will enter tlie examiningroom. 

 He is of course accepted, being generally a flue healthy fellow, and he passes out of the room. His 

 ("O's") name, among a nuniber of others, is handed to the clerks to prepare his papers, and when 

 the men are summoned for muster, and the name of " G" (the accepted man) is called, the rejected 

 man "B" answers to it, steps forward, and in the press of business and excitement attending these 

 times is mustered into the service. The practice of enlisting under assumed names is frequently 

 resorted to, and men who have passed beyond the age of forty-five years often attempt to deceive 

 the surgeon and the board by coloring their hair and beard, and otherwise hiding the usual traces 

 of old age. 



Not only are these frauds and deceptions practiced by substitutes and volunteers, but also by 

 drafted and enrolled men, not in the same manner, but in others equally as bad. Drafted men, 

 for instance, will claim exemption by reason of ankylosis of some joint, frequentlj^ the ankle or 

 elbow joint, and if [)hysically strong, unless you wish to be rude and severe in your measures, you 

 will have some difljculty in ascertaining the true facts in the case, without the application of ether, 

 which, indeed, was frequently resorted to. Others are very lame as soon as they enter the oflice, 

 walking with much difficulty with the aid of a c;ine of huge dimensions, and making the most hide- 

 ous faces while undergoing the examination, which seldom develops anything of a nature to account 

 for the pretended suffering. 



Deafness is often feigned in order to procure release from the draft, and very often it is so well 

 feigned, and the character of a deaf man so well sustained, that a conversation of a very important 

 character, relating to his own case and the probable result, will not disturb his equanimity while 

 carried on in his rear, nor the accidental fall of a quantity of that " highly appreciated " silver coin 

 attract his attention. 



The loss of teeth is a cause for exemption, so readily secured by many persons, that it is a rare 

 thing to see a man " liable to draft" who carries in his jaws the few straggling grinders to which 

 he clung for years with such heroic pertinacity. Numerous cases came to my knowledge during 

 the last two years of persons who feared the draft more than they loved their country, and, know- 

 ing of no other avenue of escape from the strong arm of the law in the case of their being drafted, 

 had their teeth extracted from the upper jaw, and ran the risk of going almost toothless, even if 

 not drafted, rather than be drafted and not be found toothless. I refused to exempt several 

 persons who, I was informed, had their teeth drawn for the purpose of evading their duties to the 

 Government. 



Men claiming exemption under Circular 101 gave us much unnecessary trouble. Though the 

 bills, scattered over the entire district, told them in terms as plain as the English language could 

 supply, that none other than " manifest permanent physical disability " would exempt men from 

 the enrollment before the draft, thousands of persons flocked to our headquarters for exemi)tion 

 on the most trifling and ridiculous grounds. If not accommodated with an immediate examination, 

 or if examined and their complaint decided not to be of such a nature as to warrant exemption, 

 curses both loud and deep were heaped upon the board. 



A large number of these men applied for examination, ostensibly to volunteer, but really to 

 ascertain if there might ]ierchance be some imperfection about them which would entitle them to 

 exemption, not knowing of the existence of any themselves, and fearful of a refusal on the part of 

 the surgeon to examine them unless they should show some sufticieut reason for the work. These 

 men, if accepted, would invariably refuse to be mustered, and, if rejected for some cause then exist- 

 ing but not permanent in its nature, peremptorily demanded their exemption from enrollment. 



" What nationali'y presents the greatest physical aptitude fur militartj serricef' is a question rather 

 difficult for me to answer. There were but three difl^ereut classes strongly represented in this con- 

 flict, at least as far as our experience is concerned : these were Americans, Germans, and Irish. 

 The majority of the two last named have resided in this country so long that they have become in a 

 manner Americanized, having but few of the habits or peculiarities of their nation about them in 

 their mode or pursuits of life. Could the negroes be strictly considered as having a nationality of 



