_Sept. 23._ I'm glad to say that my plantations have at last
contributed their share to the regiment. With two or three exceptions
all my young men have gone,--twenty, more or less,--which has deprived
me of at least half my stock of labor. They are carrying out the draft
with excessive severity, not to say horrible cruelty. Last night three
men were shot,--one killed, one wounded fatally, it is thought, and
the other disappeared over the boat's side and has not been seen
since,--shot as they were trying to escape the guard sent to capture
all men who have not been exempted by the military surgeons. The draft
here is a mere conscription,--_every_ able-bodied man is compelled to
serve,--and many not fit for military service are forced to work in
the quartermaster's department.
_Oct. 12._ You ask more about the draft. The severity of the means
employed to enforce it is certainly not to be justified, nor do the
authorities attempt to do so,--_after_ the act is done. The draft here
is carried on by military, not civil, powers. We have no civil laws,
courts, officers, etc. Consequently the only way in which public
operations can be accomplished is by issuing a general order and
instructing the provost marshals to see it carried into execution. The
only agents to be employed are necessarily soldiers, and the only
coercion is necessarily that of guns and arbitrary arrests. The state
of society--as far as regards the draft and also many other things--is
one in which most men conspire to escape the voice of the law; so
that, when such unfortunate occurrences happen as the late shooting
affair, there seems to be nothing for it but indignation and sorrow,
and perhaps an examination into the circumstances to discover if they
justified recourse to such extreme action: _e. g._, the shooting seems
to have stopped further proceeding in the draft. If there were any
civil power here, such things would be as unjust and horrible as they
seem. As it is, each case has to be weighed by itself and may prove
better than it seems. The Massachusetts recruiting agents, of course,
have nothing to do with enforcing the draft. But their presence seems
to have increased its activity and their bounty contributes to its
success. Nearly all my men have gone voluntarily (_i. e._, felt they
must go, and, for the bounty offered, concluded to go without
violence), and all are constantly writing home letters expressive of
great satisfaction.
The letter following from T. E. R. (one of Mr. Philbrick's
superintendents, frequently referred to in these letters as
"R."), gives a capital idea of the pleasures of living under
military rule.