Near Vining Station, Ga.,
July 16, 1864.
The President, in his wisdom or his weakness, has stopped
all capital punishment in the army. The greatest penalty for the crime of
desertion now is confinement during the war at the Dry Tortugas; that may be
for a longer or shorter period than the term of their enlistment, but during
the whole time the deserters are not under fire, their hard labor is probably
less than that which troops in the field have to perform, and the chance of
escape is always before them. Is it humanity for a man virtually to pardon all
these deserters, who have committed one of the greatest military crimes, when,
by so doing, the life of every soldier who does his duty and goes into battle
is endangered to a greater extent? I do not say that shooting deserters would
stop all desertion, but I believe that with such a penalty before them, only
the most reckless would attempt it. These men who desert are of no value to
society, and no one would regret them if they were justly shot.
This war is now in its fourth year; no one doubts that it
has got to go on in some shape or other, either well or poorly managed, till it
is brought to a definite conclusion; that end may be in one year and it may be
in five years, but should not there be some regard to economy in its conduct?
Should it be possible for ten out of every fifteen thousand men, raised at an
expense of four or five hundred dollars apiece, to escape their term of service
due the Government? Why, at every little scare, are we raising hundred-day men
and telling them, as a strong inducement to serve, that they will be exempt
from any drafts during that period? A man cannot become a soldier in a hundred
days; he can't learn in that time how to take care of his health and rations.
The shorter the term of service the greater will be the proportion of deaths.
No man in this war can look ahead for one hundred days and calculate on any
great and decided success within that time. The chances are that at the end of
that term, the occasion for men will be as great as at the beginning.
These calls for men for short terms are farces which have
been repeated too often. They are made as concessions to a people who would as
cheerfully stand a practical order for men. In the case of these
bounty-jumpers, substitutes, and all other unreliable men, there should be an
order obliging them to deposit their bounties in some bank, payable only by
small instalments, or at the end of their term of service. A man furnishing a
substitute should be held responsible for him during the whole three years. I
am willing and have made up my mind to serve through this war, no matter how
long it lasts, with pay or without pay; and I do want to see a little more
practical earnestness in the conduct of affairs, and not so much shirking of
responsibility.
SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 178-80
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