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[3] leave of absence through irregular methods;1 the service of the outposts was neglected; the bonds of discipline were being loosened; gloom, home-sickness, and a disposition to criticise were becoming daily more and more prevalent among that large body of troops lying torpid amid the mire and rime of the clayish slopes of Stafford county. But the discouragement which was creeping into the hearts of all was less due to the remembrance of honorable defeats than to the paucity of confidence inspired by the leaders. Consequently, the mere name of Hooker was sufficient to arrest the progress of the evil, and the measures which he adopted for the purpose of suppressing it were soon productive of the best results. The Army of the Potomac resumed all its former habits with that promptness which is the characteristic of troops among whom education has developed the intelligence of the soldier. The strictest orders were issued to prevent desertions to the interior, and to punish those who were guilty of that crime. Assisted by the President, Hooker got rid of this scourge, more fatal to an army than the most fearful epidemic. Deserters frequently made their escape in citizens' clothes, which their relations sent them or which were sold to them by the inhabitants of the country. All packages coming from the North were strictly scrutinized. Provost-marshals apprehended the farmers who, to their misfortune, resided in the vicinity of the army, and who, driven by want in consequence of the war or yielding to the threats of deserters, became either willingly or by force the accomplices of their flight. On the other hand, intimidation and clemency were both used to induce the culprits to return to their ranks. A proclamation of the President, issued on the 10th of March, held out a promise of complete amnesty to all those who should rejoin their regiments before the 1st of April, and at the same time Mr. Lincoln relinquished his right to review the sentences of courts-martial in favor of army commanders. According to the testimony of a competent writer on such matters, General de Trobriand, this measure produced an effect as prompt as it was salutary. It put an end
Philadelphia, Jos. H. Coates and co., 1883.
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