Today in History:

563 Series III Volume V- Serial 126 - Union Letters, Orders, Reports

Page 563 UNION AUTHORITIES.

volunteer organizations, numbering 7,920 men, mustered out at this post. At Beach Street Barracks 18,721 men have passed through and been rationed under the supervision of Companies B and C. At Readville, Mass., 3,468 volunteers have been mustered out under supervision of Company B. From Camp Gilmore Companies F and H have forwarded to the field 1,009 recruits, 817 substitutes, 2 conscripts, and 48 deserters, being a total of 1,876, with 31 escapes. In addition a patrol of sixty men per day; ordinary guard duty every other day, frequently for several days in succession. From November 1, 1864, to June 11, 1865, Company D was the only force on duty at the State draft rendezvous, guarding an unknown but very large number of recruits, substitutes, & c. The officers of the regiment have been occupied as closely as the men; they have performed their company duties and special duties at the same time; also a great deal of important detached service.

Fourteenth Regiment. - One company (K) has been stationed during the year on the Government farms, Camp Wadsworth, Va. The remainder of the regiment has done duty at Camp Distribution, at Alexandria, Va., and in Washington, D. C., as garrison. Daily number of recruits, conscripts, convalescents, and deserters at Camp Distribution waiting escort to the front varied from 2,000 to 10,000. Duty very severe, the camp being large, the posts numerous, the winter uncommonly cold, and many of the men suffering from recent wounds. Sentinels frequently relieved from post and sent to hospital by order of the surgeon. In Alexandria and Washington the regiment has guarded or aided in guarding Government corrals, large depots of public stores, Washington Street Prison (500 rebel prisoners), Old Capitol and Carroll Prisons, and the Arsenal while used as a place of confinement for the assassins of President Lincoln.

In addition to their ordinary duties, the officers have performed a vast amount of special duty and detached service, thirteen being detailed at one time. They have made sixty-seven trips in charge of convalescents, recruits, conscripts, and deserters, escorting a total of 14,793, with a total loss of 325. When it is considered that this service covered in all a period of 317 days, and that thousands of the men guarded were professional bounty jumpers or similarly desperate characters, this loss will not appear surprising.

Fifteenth Regiment. - Commenced the official year at Camp Douglas, Chicago, in conjunction with Eighth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps and Twenty-fourth Ohio Battery. Guarded Government property and patrolled Chicago; guarded and escorted stragglers, conscripts, substitutes, and rebel prisoners. Up to the close of the war the prisoners constantly on hand averaged from 9,000 to 13,000. Only thirteen escaped from camp and none during the transportation. The regiment aided in escorting 1,000 deserters and stragglers and between 2,000 and 3,000 substitutes and conscripts, of whom only six escaped while under charge of officers of the Fifteenth. Strength of garrison varied between 500 and 700. Men on guard every third day or every other day. The regiment aided in preventing the outbreak of the Chicago conspiracy. Officers constantly and closely employed, frequently on two or three lines of duty at once.

Sixteenth Regiment. - This regiment, generally under command of Major Gaebel, carried on a campaign of several months in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where deputy provost-marshals and enrolling officers had been killed and wounded by disloyal persons engaged in resisting the draft. Treasonable organizations 500 or 600 strong were


Page 563 UNION AUTHORITIES.