surgeons' reports — ILLINOIS — EIGHTH DISTRICT. 44<J 



generally in sciuit allowance at tliat. In view of all these facts, it would indeed seem curious if, 

 witb his powerful muscular system, hesliould not be capable, in the highest degree, of enduring the 

 privations and hardships of a soldier's life better than the white American, the German, or the Irish, 

 or, in fact, than any other civilized race. Having myselt been raised in a slave State, and having 

 lived among slaves the greater poition of my life, and that too where the winters were but little 

 milder than here in Illinois, I know it was the general opinion that the negro, from his habits and 

 style of living, could endure much more, in both the extremes of heat and cold, than the white man. 

 Kaised a slave, he has been taught, trained, and compelled to obey others, and, as a rule, submits 

 to restraints quietly and obeys orders readily. His whole training to this time has been to obey 

 but not to govern. lu the Army, as I have seen and known, he takes great luide in military dis- 

 cipline, obeys orders well, and learns the duties of a soldier as readily as the whites do, and, I have 

 no doubt, takes more pride in being a soldier. Having been raised to regard himself as an inferior 

 to the whites, the ettect has been to make him timid when among them, and consequently it is the 

 uiore difidcnlt to judge of his courage and bravery. But 1 have reason to believe that he possesses 

 a fair share of it when i)ut to the test, notwithstanding his entire training has tended to check in 

 him everything like a spirit of bravery. I am but doing him justice to state that this war has fur- 

 nished many instances wliich show his courage to be but little, if any, inferior to that of white 

 soldiers. Give hinj freedom, the human rights and privileges necessary to continue a free man, 

 and let him have a country, and I have no doubt of his ability and courage to defend it. Neither 

 do I have any doubt that he possesses a mind cajjable of a much higher degree of cultivation than 

 has generally been awarded him. He would, indeed, be a prodigy, if, with all his present disadvan- 

 tages, he should be found to possess in the same degree the qualifications for a soldier that the 

 whites possess. He is not impulsive, impetuous, and rash, like the Irish. His natural disposition 

 is to obey ; and considering the readiness with which he acquires military habits, and the pride he 

 takes therein, I incline to the oi)inion that he possesses as great an aptitude for military service as 

 they do ; and, if well oflicered by white men, he could be as much relied on in the charge or foropeu- 

 lield fighting. # * * 



WINSTON SOMERS, 

 Late Surgeon Board of Enrollment /Seventh District of Illinois. 

 Ukbana, III., August 25, 18Co. 



ILLINOIS— EIGHTH DISTRICT. 



Extracts from report of Dr. E. R. Babcock. 



* * * Number of recruits, substitutes, and drafted men examined previous to 



January G, 1865, by Surgeon Whitmire : 



Recruits 2, 944 



Substitutes 417 



Dratted men 397 



Total; 3,758 



Since January G, 18G5, by Surgeon Babcock : 



Recruits 2,461 



Substitutes 174 



Drafted men 13 



Total ! 2, 647 



Total since orgauization of board G, 405 



Total number of examinations of enrolled men 2, 250 



Total number held to service 1, 119 



Total number exempt from service 1, 131 



57 



