408 surgeons' repoets — ohio — eleventh district. 



whicli tbey were credited. The new settlements and rnral districts generally bave a greater num- 

 ber of enrolled men in proportion to their population than older and more wealthy ones, while their 

 wealth is in an inverse proportion. 



The large local bounties paid by wealthy districts i)recludes the possibility of competition in the 

 newer and poorer ones, and thus paralyzes their efl'orts. The result was that seeing the certainty 

 of a drait, all those in the newer and poorer sub-districts who could possibly leave without great 

 damage enlisted and were credited to older and wealthier ones, (their own paying no bounties,) 

 reasoning that it was better to go voluntarily with a local bounty than by compulsion witliout one. 



It is unnecessary to comment further upon this point, as Congress at its last session has in a 

 great measure leniedicd that great evil. 



There is oiie point in which the present amended enrollment-law is defective, and I am not a 

 little surprised that it escaped the notice of Congress, oi-, if it did not, why they failed to remove it. 

 The law does not enroll any under twenty years of age, and yet the Government allows men between 

 eighteen and twenty to enlist, either as recruits or substitutes, and they are credited on the quotas 

 subject to draft, and this, too, without consent of parents or guardians, thus regarding them as 

 responsible and lit for military duty. Again, higher qualifications are required ior a recruit or 

 substitute than for a drafted man, and yet, by refusing to enroll those between eighteen and twenty, 

 they are virtually pronounced unfit for military service as drafted men, when they are received as 

 recruits and as suhstitutcs for drafted men. Why this distinction? Are drafted men required to 

 perform harder duty than recruits or substitutes, or is there anything requiring them to have a 

 greater age or experience? 1 know of none. There seems to me to be a great discrepancy between 

 the views of the War Department and of Congress. If men of eighteen are tit for military duty, 

 they should be enrolled ; if not, they should not be received either as recruits or substitutes. 



T. B. FISUER, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Eighth District of Ohio. 



Mansfield, Ohio, June 9, 1865. 



OHIO— ELEVENTU DISTEICT.' 

 Extracts from report of Dr. O. C. Miller. 



* * * I was appointed surgeon of the board of enrollment for the eleventh district 

 of Ohio on the 28th day of December, 1864, and entered upon the discharge of my duties on the 

 7th day of January, 1865. 



My personal experience in the examination of men is, therefore, limited ; and 1 am compelled 

 to look to the records of the office for the data upon which to base my report so far as relates to 

 examinations made iirevious to that date. 



In looking over the records with this object in view, I find that for many months after the 

 establishment of this ofQce no complete record of examinations made was kept by the then acting 

 surgeon, either be(;ause it was not required by the Department, or from a misapprehension or neg- 

 lect of his duty, if such record was required to be kept. I am, therefore, unable to answer the first 

 question in the circular-letter so far as relates to the number of men examined since tlie oflice was 

 established. 



The number of examinations of recruits and substitutes, drafted and enrolled men, made by 

 him were not far from five thousand, according to the most reliable evidence I can obtain. Since 

 entering upon the discharge of the duties of surgeon of the board on the 7th day of January, 1865, 

 as before mentioned, I have examined one thousand and fifty-four recruits and substitutes, sixty- 

 eight drafted men, and one hundred and thirteen enrolled men previous to draft. Of this latter 

 class I have not included very many who applied for exemption upon some frivolous pretext, but 

 who were not exanjined in detail. # # # 



The district is composed of the counties of Lawrence, Scioto, Jackson, Vinton, Gallia, and 

 Adams, and is situated in that part of the State of Ohio included in the great bend of the Ohio 



' No ivimils well) reccivid IVciiii llii'. iiliilli :in<l toiitli Jistricts, 



