Leavings

A MUCH NEEDED JAIL DELIVERY has been effected at the city jail by the Mayor, within a few days past. The number at present held there is less than one hundred, something like fifty committed for minor offenses, having been discharged, put into the hands of the enrolling officer, and sent to the army. Two months ago the number of inmates of the jail was not less than two hundred, involving a large expenditure for their keeping, and none of them affording an example of merited punishment for crime committed against law and good order.

-The Daily Examiner, April 30, 1864

Unamiable Firmness and General Wistar: Addendum

 In reference to the April executions at Yorktown we have General Butler's side of the correspondence . . .



                   From General Butler

Brig. Genl' WISTAR, YORKTOWN                         April 11, 1864

DETAIL a Court Martial at once, try them on the spot. Send to me for approval of the conviction by telegraph.

Catch those that are running away at all hazards. Shoot them if necessary.

                    BENJ. F. BUTLER, Maj. Gen. Comdg.





   
                From General Butler

Brig. Gen l. WISTAR, Comdg. at YORKTOWN             April 13, 1864

I HAVE not respited the execution for any want of purpose, to make the most pungent examples of these substitute deserters, but we cannot take life without the forms of law except the imperious law of necessity. The record of the proceedings is defective in this, it contains no statement of a point at which the prosecution closed their case. 2nd- there is no record that the accused was allowed to examine witnesses in his own behalf, there is no record that he was allowed to make any statement to the court in his behalf. Now I have no doubt that all this was done, because all Court Martials do it;the difficulty is that the record, to have it amended, [must go] by special steamer. Shall ask you to call the Court together to have it amended to-night. When I receive it amended, a telegram will go to have the execution done. See that the other records are amended and sent back by the boat. Have the record state in each case whether the man is a recruit, substitute, or conscript.

                BENJ. F. BUTLER, Maj. Gen. Comdg.

               



   
                From General Butler

Brig. Gen. WISTAR, YORKTOWN                 April 14, 1864

I FORWARD you by the boat to Yorktown the approval of the proceedings in the case of privates Egan & Holt, whom you will cause to be executed at such time and place as you choose to direct after receiving the order, and had better in form them at once of the order and its time of execution, and of the fact that it is irrevocable.

Send forward any other records that you have, and see that they are correct. The record of the case of Holt is slightly irregular in not saying whether the prisoner had an opportunity to examine witnesses, but having counsel there, and having exercised it, that may properly enough be presumed. A good way to do is to say after each witness (if the fact be so) that the prisoner did not wish to question this witness.

                BENJ. F. BUTLER, Maj. Gen. Comdg.



-Private and official correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler: during the period of the Civil War
Vol. IV
Privately Issued
1917

While in the House of Lords . . .

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC

 Wherein Gen. Wistar's actions have international repercussions.

HOUSE OF LORDS,

Thursday, May 12, 1864.

UNITED STATES- KIDNAPPING FOREIGN SUBJECTS FOR MILITARY SERVICE- OBSERVATION

THE EARL of ELLENBOROUGH: My Lords: I wish to draw the attention the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the statements contained in a letter of General Wistar, an officer of the United States army, with reference to the kidnapping of persons, principally foreigners, mostly seamen, and, therefore very likely to be British subjects, with the view of forcing them to take service in the armies of the United States. I believe I shall do most justice to the case, and to the gallant officer who has written this letter, by reading the whole of it The letter certainly does him very great credit. The letter is dated Yorktown, April 15, 1864, and is addressed to Major General John A. Dix ,New York city. It is in these words-

"General,- An extended spirit of desertion prevailing among the recruits recently received from the North in some of the regiments of my command has led me to make some inquiries in apparently well authenticated information, which I beg respectfully to communicate to you in this unofficial manner deeming it required by humanity, no less than by our common desire to benefit the service. There seems to be little doubt that many- in fact, I think I am justified in saying that most of these unfortunate men were either deceived or kidnapped, or both, in the most scandalous and inhuman manner in New York city, where they were drugged and carried off to New Hampshire and Connecticut, mustered in and uniformed before their consciousness was fully restored. Even their bounty was obtained by _the parties who were instrumental in these nefarious transactions, and the poor wretches find themselves, on returning to their senses, mustered soldiers, without any pecuniary benefit. Nearly all are foreigners, mostly sailors, both ignorant of and indifferent to, the objects of the war in which they thus suddenly find themselves involved. Two men were shot here this morning for desertion, and over thirty more are now awaiting trial or execution. These examples are essential, as we all understand: but it occurred to me, General, that you would pardon me for thus calling your attention to the greater crime committed in New York, of kidnapping these men into positions where, to their ignorance, desertion must seem like a vindication of their own rights and liberty. Believe me to be General, with the highest esteem, your servant

J.J. Wistar" (sic)

"To Major General John A. Dix New York city."

These my Lords are the very proper of this American officer. It said that many of those who have kidnapped are seamen and subjects of Majesty; it is scarcely possible that transactions could take place without knowledge of many of the officers of American army; it is scarcely that the Government itself should not cognizant of them. I understand that one case where a Frenchman was the French Admiral interfered, the was released, and the captain in regiment he was placed was the service. Many of your Lordships a few days ago a statement, which know to be true from other sources, the case of a poor man named Edwards, a seaman of one of the Liverpool steamers, and who had only recently been married. He left his clothes on board his vessel, and the money which was due to him, went on shore by direction of the to get a warm bath. He was taken to drinking shop, was drugged, and when recovered his senses found himself in uniform of the United States, was told had enlisted, and carried off to a depot, having no means whatever either of joining his family or informing them of of his case. He sent in Welsh, which his wife Liverpool, and that led to inquiries being made This is a very serious grievance. I am not aware if the noble Earl has been previously made acquainted with the case. If he has I wish to know what steps he has taken; and if he has now heard of it for the first time what steps he proposes to take, for the purpose of protecting Her Majesty's subjects from these monstrous atrocities, not only for the future but in order to obtain the release of those who may have been so seriously ill-treated, and to obtain compensation to them for what they have suffered?

EARL RUSSELL, who was very imperfectly heard, was understood to say that he knew nothing of the letter which the noble Earl had read, further than that a copy of it had been sent to him. Without, therefore, giving any answer to the individual cases stated by the noble Earl, he would say that very great hardships were incurred in such cases. It appeared that the bounty given on enlistment by the general Government of the United States and by the States Government amounted altogether to 600 dols. or 700 dols.; and this large sum, it appeared induced nefarious and unprincipled men to get hold of persons on landing in the United States, who drugged them, kept them without food, and tempted them to enlist, when they were marched off to some depot and deprived of all means of obtaining their liberty. Whenever such cases came to the knowledge of Lord Lyons, he had made immediate representations to the United States Government. He was not so much surprised at the unprincipled conduct of the parties referred to as that attempts should be made to throw protection around them; and he was sorry to say that Lord Lyons had made repeated complaints, but in most cases he had not obtained that satisfaction which he had a right to expect. The noble Earl then read the following passages from a memorandum of similar cases which had recently occurred, and the result of the representations made by Lord Lyons:-

 "Two other cases have been reported to us by the Board of Trade. The first is that of Hugh Bennett, who stated that having gone on shore from his ship, the Edinburgh, at New York, in order to make a purchase, he was induced to enter a public house, where he, in company with eleven other steamboat men, had been drugged and carried off to the United States receiving ship North Carolina. This case having been referred to Lord Lyons, he has succeeded in obtaining the man's discharge. The other case is that of a seamen named Charles Thompson, who wrote from Beaufort, South Carolina on the 25th of February last, to say he had been drugged, and while in that state was enlisted, not knowing anything until he came to himself, when he was informed that he was a soldier. He further stated that as soon as a sailor arrived in the United States was nearly certain to be drugged and made soldier of before he knew anything about it, and that in several cases the British had obtained their release."

Several cases had been brought to the notice of the British agents in the American States in which several British subjects were kidnapped, as was alleged, while in a state of intoxication. In reply to a representation from Lord Lyons, the United States War Department said they would investigate the case, and in a certain sense they did so, examining the recruiting agents and other persons who stated that the men were sober when they enlisted. Lord Lyons answered, very properly, that that investigation was not satisfactory, it having been carried on entirely in the absence of the men themselves, four or five of whom had been sent forward to the army. The recruiting agents were tempted by the very large bounty to use every I fair means of inveigling men to enlist. He must say it would throw great discredit on the United States Government if such practices were allowed to go on. It was their bounden duty to see that these persons were not forced to enter the service against their will. He must say that these proceedings would render it necessary that Her Majesty's Government should make the strongest remonstrance to the United States Government. No doubt if the facts referred to by the noble Earl were authentic they formed a very great hardship and disclosed conduct on the part of agents of the United States Government which was highly reprehensible.

-The Parliamentary Debates (Authorized Edition)
  Wyman, 1864

"Cuss the sub"- The Second New Hampshire

Point Lookout, Md. View of Hammond Genl. Hospital & U.S. genl. depot for prisoners of war

A little background on the situation in the Second New Hampshire as they received their "subs" at Point Lookout, Maryland . . .

The Fifth Regiment arrived from New Hampshire on the afternoon of November 13. On the following day they disembarked, and made their camp on the Chesapeake side of the point, just north of the prison camp. The regiment had been recruited up, very largely with that execrable class of substitutes known as "bounty jumpers." A big proportion of these were only awaiting an opportunity to desert, and some got in their work very soon. As early as the 17th, the following entry appears in the writer's diary:

Several of the Fifth Regiment's subs, attempted to get away today. Two boarded a schooner, and gave the negro captain fifty dollars to take them up the river. A gunboat got onto the racket and gave chase, overhauling and bringing back the whole outfit. Another party paddled up the river in a canoe. A mounted party pursued up the beach, but they landed at a point outside the guards and escaped to the woods. To prevent these attempts in the future, the small boats from which we have derived so much pleasure are all taken away. Cuss the subs!"

November 30th, the Second received its first dose of the same material one hundred and seventy-five and on the 19th of December another installment of three hundred and fifty came along. Quite a number had found opportunities to desert while en route. There was a little good material mixed in with these recruits, but it is no credit to New Hampshire that she turned such a mass of rubbish loose into her old veteran regiments. The old men of the Second, the true New Hampshire boys, who for more than two years had faced death fearlessly to make a record which should be the pride of their state for ages, keenly felt the change which had come. For them the "Old Second" of glorious memory and heroic achievements had ceased to exist. This feeling was a serious blow to the veteranizing, or re-enlistment, of the old men, which was invited about this time.

In spite of all precautions, a number of these rascals got away. December 3d, a party made off with a boat in which an officer had come ashore from one of the gunboats. Later, one who had been made a corporal rowed away, sometime between sunset and sunrise, with his entire squad posted at the wharf.

-A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion
Martin A. Haynes 
Lakeport, New Hampshire 1896

The Executions at Yorktown- the Second New Hampshire

 More on the executions at Yorktown in spring of 1864, from the history of the Second New Hampshire Regiment . . .

AT an early hour on the morning of the 8th of April the Second landed at Yorktown, marched up through the little town, and went into camp on the plain outside the encircling fortifications. The post was under command of General Wistar, with a garrison consisting of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth New York and a brigade of colored troops. On the 11th the Twelfth New Hampshire came down from Point Lookout, one of the colored regiments being sent up to take their place.

The regiment was hardly in camp before the bounty jumpers began to jump. Within three days over a hundred men deserted from the Second. But very few got clear away. Some made their way toward the rebel lines, but the greater part struck down the Peninsula toward Fort Monroe, and were gathered in like rats in a bag. At Point Lookout they had been reasonably sure of escape if they could but once get outside the camp limits; but here the conditions were reversed their troubles commenced where they had formerly ended. The old men cursed each successive squad as they were brought in, and felt more homesick than ever.

It was a military necessity that an example should be made of some of these, and a court martial was convened for the trial of the most flagrant cases. John Egin, of Company A, was tried on the 12th, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot to death between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m. on the 13th. Egin was picked up while making his way toward the rebel lines by a Union scout in rebel uniform. Preparations were made for carrying out the sentence. The Second marched to the place selected for the execution, and Egin was on his way when a reprieve arrived and arrested the proceedings. Egin threw his cap in the air and danced for joy. He probably thought the whole affair was only "a bluff." But his reprieve was only temporary. On the 15th he rode forth again, seated upon his coffin, this time with a comrade in misery and to his death. His companion was from Company F, and had enlisted under the name of Henry Holt; but the night before his death he divulged that his name was McGuire, and that he was from Yorkshire, England, where he had a wife and two children.

The place of execution was about a mile below the fort, upon the bluff overlooking the river. The regulation formalities and arrangements for a military execution were fully observed. The condemned men's own regiment was drawn up in line, with unloaded muskets, facing the spot where the deserters were to die. A section of artillery was upon the left of the regiment, trained to rake it. The One Hundred and Forty-eighth New York, in line to its rear, and two colored regiments on the right, all with loaded muskets, hedged the Second round about. No words can tell how keenly the proud old men of the proud old Second felt the disgrace of the position.

The condemned men rode to the spot seated upon their coffins, and accompanied by a priest. The carts stopped directly in front of the Second, where the men alighted, and their coffins were placed upon the ground, end to end, a few rods from the edge of the river bluff. The provost marshal read the findings of the court and the sentence, when the firing party of twelve men advanced and took position a few feet in front of the coffins. The prisoners removed their coats, and knelt upon the grass while the priest performed the holy offices of the church. Arising, they shook hands with the provost marshal and the priest. Their eyes were bandaged and their wrists tied with white handkerchiefs. Then they were led to and seated upon their coffins, facing the executioners. The marshal raised his hand, and his men brought their pieces to a "ready ;" again, and the guns sprang to the shoulder; a third time, and the volley rang out. Two or three bullets were heard singing out over the river, and Egin and Holt fell back across their coffins. After a short time the bodies were examined by surgeons, who declared life extinct, when all the troops were filed past the bodies and back to their camps.

But vengeance was not yet satisfied. James Scott, of Company G, and Owen McDonald, of Company K, had been picked up by the gunboat "Mystic," while paddling up Chesapeake Bay in a small boat, outside the Union lines. From memoranda found on their persons relative to the military preparations at Yorktown, it appeared that they were prepared to furnish valuable information to the enemy. They were tried for desertion, found guilty, and paid the penalty upon the plain in front of Fort Magruder, at Williamsburg, on the 29th of April.

These drastic measures had a most salutary effect, the desertions by wholesale being immediately checked. Fred Phisterer, sometime Adjutant General of New York, states in his statistical record that twelve men who were soldiers were executed by sentence of court martial during the war. If his figures are correct, the Second Regiment certainly furnished an undue proportion of this disgraceful roll.

                    
-A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion
Martin A. Haynes 
Lakeport, New Hampshire 1896