Iff .6 Hollingpr pH 8.5 MiU Run F03-2193 CITY BOUNTY FUND COMMISSION, PHILADELPHIA. REPORT OF THE CITY BOUNTY FUND COMMISSION. OFFICE OF THE CITY BOUNTY FUND COMMISSION, No. 613 Chestnut Street, December 31, 186&/ To Hon. Alexander Henry, Mayor of Philadelphia. Sir : — In compliance with your request, the Commission appointed under Ordinance of December 12, 1863, to pay bounty to volunteers, respectfully report : That they met and organized on December 15, 1863, and from ttat time until the beginning of June, held daily sessions, which frequently occupied many hours. The quotas under the calls of February 1st and March 14th, 1861, being then filled, and the government bounty with- drawn, but little recruiting was done during the summer. .5 2 They, therefore, met but three times a week until August, when daily sessions were resumed. Under the Ordinance, they were merely assigned the duty of reporting to you the names of those entitled to bounty. As it would have been impossible, however, for you to attend to the delivery of so large a number of war- rants, and to verify the identity of the applicants, amounting, at times, to many hundreds daily, the Commission assumed the additional duty of making out the warrants, keeping them in custody, and delivering them to the recruits, or to their properly authorized representatives. This additional labor, though onerous, was cheerfully submitted to, in the conviction that it was the only mode by which the some- what cumbrous routine prescribed for the business of the City could be adapted to the exigencies of rapid recruiting. With all their exertions, however, the inevitable delays consequent upon the system have placed the City at con- siderable disadvantage in competition with the neighboring districts, whose agents station themselves in our recruiting offices, with cash in hand to tempt volunteers. It is well worthy the consideration of Councils whether, in any future operations of this kind, some means cannot be found to, remove this disadvantage. A smaller amount of money paid in hand is more tempting than a larger amount for which the recruit must wait two or three days after his muster-in. The plan adopted in New York, where the recruit is mustered-in at the office of the Commissioners, and receives his bounty on the spot, with proper precau- tions against desertion, offers great facilities for the safe and successful prosecution of the business of recruiting. The amounts appropriated by Councils, in aid of volun- teering, to be expended under the supervision of this Com- mission, have been : By Ordinance of December 12, 1863, $1,250,000 no February 9, 1864 2,000,000 00 March 21, 1864, 1,000,000 00 July 18, 1864 1,500,000 00 " September 30, 1864, 50,000 00 In all, $5,800,000 00 From this amount, bounties have been awarded as follows : Under Ordinance of December 12, 1863, to 15,050 Three years recruits for vol- unteers, army and navy, at $250... $3, 762, 500 00 75 Marines for four years, 18,750 00 Under Ordinance of July 2, 1864, to 3 One year volunteers, at $100... 300 00 865 Substitutes for three years, at 250 216,250 00 3 " two years, at...200 600 00 5 " one year, at 100 500 00 Under Ordinance of August 9, 1864, to 43 Volunteers and regulars for three years, $400.... 17,200 00 5 Volunteers for two years, 400 2,000 00 1714 Volunteers for one year, 400 685,600 00 1 Naval recruit for three years,.. 400 400 00 33 " for two years,. ..400 13,200 00 259 " for one year, 400 103,600 00 15 Marines for four years 400 6,000 00 $4,826,900 00 $5,800,000 00 Forward $4,826,900 00 $5,800,000 00 Under Ordinance of September 30, 1864, to 28 Volunteers and regulars for three years, $450 12,600 00 2 Volunteers for two years 450 900 00 982 " for one year 450 441,900 00 105 Naval recruits for two years,. ..450, 47,250 00 37 Marines for four years, 450 16,650 00 Under Ordinance November 4, 1864, to 660 Volunteers and regulars for three years, $450 297,000 00 7 Volunteers for two years 300 2,100 00 28 Volunteers for one year 150 4,200 00 102 Substitutes for three years 300 30,600 00 1 " for one year 100 100 00 73 Naval recruits for three years, 450 32,850 00 71 " for two years,. .300 21,300 00 57 Marines for four years, 450 25,650 00 20,224 Bounties awarded, amounting to $5,760,000 00 $5,800,000 00 In addition to this, the expenditures of the Commission have amounted up to this date to 6,550 87 (Besides this, there have been a few small bills not verified in time to be included in the warrants of 1864.) There has been paid, under Ordinance of July 12, 1864, for the " Citizens' Volun- teer Substitute Committee," $787 63 Less repaid by J. G. Kosengarten, Treasurer, $88 39 699 24 And under Ordinance of September 30, 1864, for the "Committee to recruit for Deficient Wards," 847 78 5,768,007 89 $31,902 11 To this must be added sundry amounts refunded for re- cruits discharged, etc., in all 5,683 25 Leaving balance of appropriations, December 31, 1864,... $37,585 36 The recruits to whom bounty has been awarded may be classified thus : — Volunteers and Regulars 18,446 Substitutes 976 Naval Recruits 618 Marines 1 84 20,224 Of the Volunteers, 6,012 were re-enlisted veterans. Or, classifying them with respect to their terms of service, Recruits for one year, 2,992 " two years, 226 three years, 16,822 four years, 184 20,224 A few of the warrants included in the above statement have not yet been delivered to the parties for whom they were drawn. Recruits have occasionally been sent off without having the opportunity of drawing their bounty ; and in many cases the furloughs of re-enlisted veterans expired before their muster-in rolls reached the Commission. Some claimants are thus probably dead, while others may be deserters. The warrants thus left in the hands of the Commission will be delivered to their successors. The attention of the Commission having been drawn to the large proportion of "bounty jumpers" among the 6 recipients of bounty, and to the facilities for and impunity of desertion, under the existing arrangements for recruiting volunteers, they announced, on November 22d, that they would in future pay bounty only to recruits enlisting in the regular army and naval service. The Commission has reason to believe that this action was not without weight in aiding the introduction of certain reforms in the system of recruiting for the volunteer forces, which promise to assimi- late it to that existing in the regular services, giving reasonable safeguards against desertion, and tending to deter professional deserters from pursuing their avocation. Bounty was continued to regular recruits until December 9th, when notice was given of its withdrawal. The small balance left on hand may probably be required to meet the claims of those who enlist at a distance, and whose rolls are frequently many months in reaching us. It has been suggested in some quarters that the City ought to lay claim to funds which have accumulated at the rendezvous here, arising from the local bounties taken from recruits who have subsequently deserted or been rejected. Had it been proper and advisable to make such a claim, the Commission would have felt it their duty to do so. It is the rule of the regular service to require two examina- tions of each recruit, and during last summer, this rule was extended to the volunteers, in consequence of the numerous complaints that men unfit for service were received in the army. When the Commission learned that a portion of the men to whom they were paying bounty were rejected at the rendezvous, they made enquiry to ascertain whether the city was deprived of credit for these men, and not obtaining satisfactory assurances, they announced that no bounty would be paid without a certificate that the recruit had been finally accepted. This virtually put a stop to recruiting until an order was received from the Provost Marshal General, that, at the time of muster-in, absolute credits should be given, which would not be cancelled by the subsequent rejection of the recruits. The Government thus consented, when it rejected a recruit, to lose a man ; as an equivalent it retained his local bounty, or such part of it as might have been detained from him. The City preserved the credit, and had no further claim on the moneys accumulating from that source in the hands of the officers entitled to hold them. "With the investigations now in progress as to the manner in which the agents of the Government have administered the trust confided to them, the City has therefore nothing to do. The Commission, however, is glad to learn that arrangements are being perfected by which a paymaster will be stationed at the rendezvous, and the business of handling the bounty of recruits will be systematized so as to afford to the Government reasonable security against desertion, while the honest recruit will be protected from imposition. Since the appointment of the Commission, Philadelphia has been required to fill her quota of the following calls : Call of October 17, 1863, 300,000 men. « February 1, 1861, 200,000 " « March 14, 1861, 200,000 " " July 18, 1864, 500,000 « 1,200,000 " Under these, the quotas of the City, as announced, have been, Call of October 17, 1863 and February 1, 1864 18,123 " March 14, 1864 5,507 " July 18, 1864 11,742 35,372 Against which were credits, For draft of July, 1863 3,658 Sundry credits, including recruits up to January 1, 1864 2,276 5,934 Leaving to be furnished subsequent to January 1, 1864 29,438 It is impossible to make an exact comparison between these figures and the bounties paid by the Commission, owing to the above item of 2,276 men, some of whom were recruited before and others after the 17th of October, 1863, the date at which bounties were authorized by the ordinance of December 12, 1863. Much labor has been bestowed upon the effort to reach a correct estimate of this, but it has been unavailing. The calls of October 17, 1863, and February 1, 1864, were combined and considered as one for 500,000 men. The quota officially announced under it was so large as to excite general surprise. A member of the Commission was deputed in conjunction with E. Spencer Miller, Esq., appointed by Councils, to investigate it, and, if found too large, to obtain its reduction. Several visits were made to Washington, and laborious investigations undertaken. It was found that the quota itself was "but 13,769, and that the remainder, 4,354, was the portion allotted to Philadelphia of an assumed deficiency of 20,792 men, claimed by the Government from the State of Pennsylvania, under the calls of 1861 and 1862. A copy of the account kept with the State was procured, and a clerical error was discovered of 18,884 nine months' men, equivalent to 4,721 three years' men. On pointing this out to the Enrolment Bureau, credit for that amount was at once given to the State, the share of which for this City was 989 men. This still left us with a deficiency of 3,365 men charged against us. The alacrity with which Philadelphia, since the com- mencement of the war, has responded to every appeal, gave assurance to the Committee that no such deficiency could have occurred. Considerable investigation into such re- cords of the years 1861 and 1862 as were accessible, con- vinced them of the fairness of a report made on the subject by Messrs. Allen and Gerhard, the Draft Commissioners under the State law, which declared that Philadelphia had filled all her quotas of 1861 and 1862, on the 2d of November, 1862. After several interviews with the Presi- dent and Secretary of War, the justice of this was acknowl- edged, and an order was obtained cancelling the deficiency charged against the City, and, as a necessary consequence, giving us credit for all men supplied since November 2, 1862, up to the period when credits had been given by the Department directly to enrolment districts. A careful ex- amination showed this to be 2,915 men, making in all a credit of 7,269 men secured by the labors of the Committee. This credit of 2,915 men was only settled on the 30th of May, the day preceding that appointed for the draft. 10 Several wards were still deficient, and, under a resolution of Councils, efforts were made to have this credit so dis- tributed as to protect those wards. These efforts were successful in all but the Fifth district, where a draft in the Twenty-fifth Ward took place for forty-six men. In this settlement, one point was left open for future adjustment. Under G. O. 94 of 1862, the call for 300,000 militia was for nine months men; on this call, Philadelphia furnished three years men. She would thus seem to have an equitable claim for the overplus of service rendered. Her quota under the call, was 8,730, and the overplus therefore, was equivalent to 6,548 three years men. This claim, with the others, was laid before the President, but while granting the rest, he deemed it advi- sable to postpone the consideration of this, and the Com- mittee felt that it was not desirable to press the matter. The question was embarrassed by the fact that due credit had been given to the State at large, for the full amount of service of the men raised under this call. On the 1st of June, the several Wards of the City had an aggregate surplus amounting to nearly four thousand men, but as another call was promised shortly, it was not considered advisable to abandon recruiting. Yarious plans were tried to stimulate volunteering, which seemed almost extinct, and a number of recruits were obtained as substi- tutes or representatives. The amended Enrolment Act of July -4, 1864, authorized the claim for credit of all men furnished to the navy, since the commencement of the war and prior to February 24, 1864. This could not but prove of much importance to Philadelphia, from her position as a seaport with a Navy 11 Yard, and from the numbers of her sea-faring population. Measures were accordingly taken, at an early day, to ob- tain authentic evidence as to the credit which could pro- perly be claimed. It was not, however, until August 16th, that official information was received as to the appointment of a Commission to sit at Harrisburg for the investigation of such claims, under orders to report by September 1st. Fortunately, a large part of the work had already been done, and every exertion was used to complete it. By August 28th, the Harrisburg Commission was furnished with a sworn transcript of the registers at the Naval Ren- dezvous and Rendezvous* for Marines here, giving a des- cription of 7,366 men shipped and recruited here between the dates specified by the law. No pretence was made that these men all belonged to Philadelphia ; but, under the ruling of the Department, the claim was filed for the State at large, and, as this Commis- sion believes, was so allowed. The several wards of the City had been urged to can- vass carefully for their residents in the naval service, and to forward lists of such to the Harrisburg Commission. Additional time was obtained; and, though some wards, from supineness, may have failed to obtain all the names which they could have justly claimed, it is believed that, on the whole, the numbers awarded were very nearly all that we were justly entitled to. The aggregate of the credits thus given to the Wards, reduced to terms of three years, amounted to 5,260 men. It will thus be seen that the quotas of Philadelphia, under the calls for 1,200,000 men in 1863 and 1864, have been filled as follows : 12 Draft of July, 1863 3,658 Sundry credits to Jan. 1, 1864 2,276 Credits obtained for recruits prior to June, 1863.... 7,269 Naval credits prior to Feb. 24, 1864 5,260 Bounties awarded to 20,224 38,687 Total claimed by Government 35,372 Surplus '. 3,315 The surplus on the books of the A. A. Provost Marshal General of this Division, amount at this date, to 3,769, distributed among the several wards of the City as follows : First District. Second Ward 76 Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Eleventh 120 222 150 123 210 901 Second District. First and Twenty- sixth "Wards 241 Seventh Ward , 89 Eighth " 275 Ninth " 223 Tenth " 239 1,067 13 TniRD District. Twelfth Ward 59 Thirteenth " 110 Sixteenth " 47 Seventeenth " 29 Eighteenth " 89 Nineteenth " 62 396 Fourth District. Fourteenth Ward 97 Fifteenth " 324 Twentieth " 13-4 Twenty-first " 221 Twenty-fourth " 244 1 ; 020 Fifth District. Twenty-second Ward 142 Twenty-third " 153 Twenty-fifth " 90 Total 385 3,769 The Commission would observe that this result, so cred- itable to the City, and which should be so satisfactory to the citizens, has been attained at a very small outlay in the Way of expenses. Feeling the oppressive nature of the debt which was being created for bounties, they have sedu- lously endeavored to keep the expenses of their office, of 14 advertising, and of the various extra investigations under- taken, at the lowest possible mark. It is, therefore, not without a feeling of pride that they refer to the enormous amount of complicated business transacted by them, during a period of more than a year, at the comparatively trifling expenditure of less than $7,000. For the purpose of com- parison, they would mention that the Board of Supervisors, in New York, expended, up to March 17th last, $29,913 50, in paying bounties to 12,534 men, exclusive of bounties and premiums ; and in filling the call of July 18th, which was almost exclusively accomplished by the Naval credits allowed to that city, the expenses, exclusive of bounties, were $150,000. On the eve of the retirement of this Commission, the quotas of the City have been announced, under the call of December 19th, 1864. They are as follows : First District, 8 >428 Second District, 4,474 Third District, 3,840 Fourth District, 3,749 Fifth District (City portion), 2,023 Aggregate quota of Philadelphia, 17,514 Although the duty of filling this quota will devolve upon the successors of this Commission, still the allotment is so inexplicably large, and the time allowed by law for filling it is so short, that the Commission have deemed it advisa- ble to take steps immediately to have it explained, and to obtain the correction of any errors which may be found. Correspondence on the subject is in progress, and, the 15 Commission are nappy to state, with every prospect of a satisfactory termination. It may not be ont of place here to put on record a sum- mary of what has been done by Philadelphia in supplying men for the Union since the beginning of the war. The Eeport of Messrs. Allen and Gerhard, made in November, 1862, carefully excluded all recruits from other localities in Philadelphia regiments, while it took no count of such of our citizens as enlisted in organizations raised elsewhere. No accurate estimate can now be had as to these, but the Report is probably at least 5,000 men short of the number actually furnished by the City up to that time. The Report gives credit to Philadelphia for three years men.... 29,723 Since then we have furnished our allotments as follows : Quota of 500,000 men, February 1st, 1864 13,769 Quota of 200,000 men, March 14, 1864 5,507 Quota of 500,000 men, July 18, 1864 11,742 And we now have a surplus of 3,769 Making a total of men for long terms of service since the begin- ning of the war 64,510 In addition to this, we have furnished, for short terms, Three months' men, April, 1861, as per records of the "City Relief Committee," 5,420 Emergency men, September, 1862 4,914 Emergency men, June, 1863 10,424 One hundred days' men, July, 1864, as per records of the " Vet- eran Bounty Commission," , 2,816 Total $88,084 16 This is a record of which any community may well feel proud. In conclusion, the Commission feel it their duty to express their opinion of the inadequacy of the present system of raising troops, the results of which are seen in the quickly recurring calls for enormous numbers of men. The corrupting influence of large bounties is widely spread, and appears to be daily extending. It encourages and facilitates the prevalent vice of desertion, and the only regret which the Commission feel, in looking back over many months of toil, is, that the money intended to cheer the hearth of the absent patriot has, in too many cases, gone into the hands of the professional bounty -jumper, whose name, indeed, has remained credited to the City, but whose place in the ranks has never been filled. R. P. KING, JOSIAH KISTERBOCK, J. P. McEADDEN, THOMAS WILMER, HENRY C. LEA, Co7nmis$ioner$. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 314 783 6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 314 783 6 Hollinger pH 83 Mill Run F03-2193