Key-Notes of American Liberty / Comprising the most important speeches, proclamations, and acts of Congress, from the foundation of the government to the present time

by Various

PROVOST MARSHAL-GENERAL'S REPORT.

SHOWING THE NUMBER OF MEN ENLISTED, NUMBER OF KILLED, WOUNDED, AND DEATHS FROM DISEASE, DURING THE REBELLION.

Washington, D.C., Friday, April 27, 1866.

The following is a condensed summary of the results of the operations of this bureau, from its organization to the close of the war.

1. By means of a full and exact enrollment of all persons liable to conscription, under the law of March 3 and its amendments, a complete exhibit of the military resources of the loyal States, in men, was made, showing an aggregate number of 2,254,063, not including 1,000,516 soldiers actually under arms, when hostilities ceased.

2. One million one hundred and twenty thousand six hundred and twenty-one men were raised, at an average cost (on account of recruitment exclusive of bounties,) of $9.84 per man, while the cost of recruiting of 1,356,593 raised prior to the organization of the Bureau was $34.01 per man. A saving of over seventy cents on the dollar in the cost of raising troops was thus effected under this Bureau, notwithstanding the increase in the price of subsistence, transportation, rents, &c., during the last two years of the war. (Item: The number above given does not embrace the naval credits allowed under the eighth section of the act of July 4, 1864, nor credits for drafted men who paid commutation, the recruits for the regular army, nor the credits allowed by the Adjutant-General subsequent to May 25, 1865, for men raised prior to that date.)

3. Seventy-six thousand five hundred and twenty-six deserters were arrested and returned to the army. The vigilance and energy of the officers of the Bureau, in this line of the business, put an effectual check to the wide-spread evil of desertion, which, at one time, impaired so seriously the numerical strength and efficiency of the army.

4. The quotas of men furnished by the various parts of the country were equalized, and a proportionate share of military service secured from each, thus removing the very serious inequality of recruitment, which had arisen during the first two years of the war, and which, when the bureau was organized, had become an almost insuperable obstacle to the further progress of raising troops.

5. Records were completed showing minutely the physical condition of 1,014,776 of the men examined, and tables of great scientific and professional value have been compiled from this data.