WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
February 8, 1877.
Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War.
This man is reported on the muster-out roll of his company as having "deserted at Wilmington, N.C., April 16, 1866."
In his petition of December 28, 1874, on file in this office, occurs the following language:
"I was transferred to the Twenty-eighth Michigan Volunteers, and performed duty with that regiment from the 28th June, 1865, until the 16th day of April, 1866, when, being in a reduced and weak condition from continued chills and fever, and being in great fear of smallpox, which had become very prevalent at Wilmington, N.C., where my company was then stationed, I left my command without leave and returned to Michigan." * * *
This man is consequently a deserter in fact, and should this bill, restoring to an honorable status an admitted deserter, become a law, it will defeat every end of military discipline and justice, besides working a great injustice to every soldier who served faithfully and honorably.
It is therefore strongly recommended that it be not approved.
E.D. TOWNSEND,
Adjutant-General.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 14, 1877.
To the House of Representatives: