William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 1

[432] the Legislature of 1863 for payment for the services which they had rendered. Many of these gentlemen's claims were proper: they had expended time and money to achieve their purpose, which was patriotic and honorable. There were others whose demands had no such solid base: among these was a captain in the militia service, whose company had, though small, volunteered in a body for the service. It did not appear that he enlisted any one. The colonel of the regiment into which this company was put reported to headquarters that this captain was not a fit person to command the company ; and another gentleman, after the company was filled, was commissioned captain. The person holding the militia commission petitioned the Legislature for pay in recruiting the men who originally belonged to his company. This petition was referred to the Committee on Military Claims; and that committee, as in all other cases, referred it to the Adjutant-General for his consideration and report. The report of the Adjutant-General upon the subject stated the facts of the case as above recited, and concluded as follows:—

Of the merits of this claim I have no right to express an opinion The facts are as I have stated. During these two years of war, very many cases have come under my observation of patriotic devotion to cause and country, and of sacrifices made without expectation of a money reward, of which Captain—'s case presents no approach. I know a respectable widow lady living in Harrison Avenue, whose five sons went out as privates in our regiments, two of whom have been killed, one severely wounded at Antietam; and when she came to see me, shortly after the battle, for assistance and direction to visit her son in the hospital, she did it with so much modesty that a stranger would have thought she was asking a great boon.

In one-half the households in Massachusetts, more suffering and sacrifices have been made in this war than have been made by Captain—, or a majority of the men who come to the Legislature to get pay for some little camp duty, or get money because they failed to obtain a commission which they were not half as well qualified to hold as one-half the men who have been serving in the ranks of Massachusetts regiments, from Antietam to Baton Rouge, during the last twenty months, at thirteen dollars a month. Pardon me for entering upon a subject of which my heart is full.