Telegram Herald

TUCKER'S TROUBLES

A BOY'S MILITARY EXPERIENCE.

Refused Enlistment on Account of Deafness—He Returns Home Only to be Arrested for Desertion, Court Martialed and Imprisoned—Death Ended His Trouble.

Northport, July 21.—In 1863 Oscar Tucker was a somewhat fragile youth of 18, and very deaf. He was living with his sister, Mrs. E. E. Chase, at present of this place, but at that time of Cannon Falls, Minn. Mrs. Chase's husband was in the army and her brother was the only man about the farm. Although Oscar was in no way fitted for the hardships of a soldier's life the fires of patriotism burned fiercely in his youthful breast, and he longed for an opportunity to distinguish himself in the service of his country. Aware that his deafness would prevent his reception in the army, he struggled to conceal his infirmity, and awaited an opportunity to enlist. This came in August, 1862, when Henry Bevins of the First Minnesota began raising a company for Hatch's battalion. Bevins had enlisted at a time when he thought the pomp and pageantry of war would be as a holiday frolic, but the first battle of Bull Run completely disabused his mind of any such idea and he hankered for the freedom of the private citizen.

There was but one way out of the army, and that he embraced. He was detailed as a recruiting officer, and sent to organize a company for Hatch's battalion, as said before. This company was organized simply to do service on the frontier and quell the Sioux, as it was shortly after the Indian outbreak, and it was understood that the men were not to be sent south at all. Bevins was anxious to make up his complement of men that he might secure his commission and this he did by enlisting young Tucker.

This young man, in company with others, was sent to Fort Snelling for examination, and was rejected by Dr. Kane, the examining surgeon, on account of physical disability, but as Tucker was very hard of hearing he failed to understand what the doctor said, and being told by Bevins that he had been accepted, supposed himself a soldier and remained there two months. In October the battalion was ordered to Fort Abercrombie, and young Tucker started with the rest, but not being enrolled, no saddle or other military accoutrements had been issued to him, and after two days weary marching he became disgusted and returned home.

He remained with his sister until January, 1863, when an officer from Fort Snelling arrested him on a charge of desertion, as some meddlesome citizen had reported him as a deserter three times. The company to which the boy was supposed to belong was at this time on the frontier, and the regimental records were with the company. Tucker was then kept a prisoner from January until July when he was granted a court martial, Gen. Sibley presiding. Gen. Sibley and all others supposed the boy to be a member of the United States service as he did himself, and he was sentenced to forfeiture of pay during the time he had been at home but he had never drawn any pay.

In September, of the same year, Capt. Chase, young Tucker's brother-in-law, having re-enlisted, went home on a veteran furlough, and at the solicitation of his wife went to St. Paul to intercede for the release of the boy. About the first man he met was Dr. Kane, who had examined and rejected him when he attempted to enlist and the fact of his rejection was laid before Gen. R. C. Olin, Gen. Sibley's adjutant. Gen. Olin promised that he would see to the immediate release of young Tucker, who was then at Fort Snelling awaiting a transfer to Fort Abercrombie. Before the order of his release could reach him, Tucker in company with a number of recruits was sent on to Fort Abercrombie distance about 400 miles. When he reached there the commandant of Hatch's battalion—Bevins—had resigned as soon as he got his commission told him "I can make nothing of you but a citizen with soldiers clothes on as your name does not appear on any of the regimental records." He, therefore, could not be assigned to any company, and had no business in the fort. He was told, however, that if he waited until Spring he could be sent to Fort Ridgely, where perhaps he could be mustered into the service. Clothing and rations were issued to him and he did military duty, was subject to rules and regulations of garrison life and was a soldier to all intents and purposes, except in the matter of pay, until February when he was taken with malignant erysipelas and died.

Here was a case wherein a young man who had never been enrolled had been detained in the United States service from August, 1862, until February, 1863, tried by court-martial for desertion, found guilty, and sent to the front to die without the shadow of right. These events occurred in tumultuous times, of course, when minor matters received but little attention, but even at such times it would seem next to impossible to detain a young man in the army who had never been enlisted.

The boy was a frail, delicate youth, unused to the rigors and hardships of life in a frontier military camp and his death was undoubtedly caused by the change to which he was subjected.

The father of the boy, who was an only son, is still living in Ohio, and his sister, with whom he was living at the time of his attempted enlistment, is living here. No attempt has ever been made to collect pay for the service of the boy, as his father, his legal heir, is in independent circumstances, though he has frequently been urged to do it.

Le Roy.