ANDREW, Governor of Massachusetts to William H. Seward, November 4, 1864

Governor Andrew to Mr. Seward

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt from the Department of State of the communication addressed to Mr. John P. Cumming, superintendent of immigration at New York, and by you referred to this department, from Jean Barbier, jr., and others, who claim to have been deceived and unfairly enlisted into the military service of the United States, whose complaints you desire me investigate.

In reply, I have the honor to enclose the report of Lieutenant Colonel Wm. S. King, 35th Massachusetts volunteers, superintendent of recruits in Massachusetts, who was personally present when the men in question were landed and mustered, and to whose regiment they have been assigned by the War Department.

The difficulty under which Barbier appears to labor would probably be obviated by informing him that in this country a substitute, as soon as mustered, stands upon the same footing as to promotion (as in all other respects) as a volunteer; indeed, is a volunteer.

With regard to Krone and Papot, their complaints are entirely groundless. It is beyond a doubt that they came here to be soldiers, were knowingly mustered as such, and are to be regarded, and should be treated, simply as deserters.

I have the honor also to acknowledge the receipt of several documents from the Department of State of the United States, covering similar cases of complaints, which are all in process of investigation, and will be the subject of early and careful replies as soon as it is possible to complete the needful inquiries.

If the specific subject-matter of this communication seems to require any further attention or report from me, I beg you to command me.

Meanwhile, I am, respectfully, your most obedient servant,

[Untitled]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the papers from the Department of State, enclosing communications from “Jean Barbier, jr., and others, who claim to have been deceived and unfairly enlisted into the military service of the United States,” which you have referred to me as superintendent of recruiting in Massachusetts; and, in reply, I respectfully state that these men, Barbier, Krone, and Papot, who aver that they were told at Hamburg that they were to work at their professions and not going into military service, were, on the contrary, informed previous to their sailing, by government officials at Antwerp and Hamburg, that they were going to the United States to enlist as soldiers, and that if any one of them wished to withdraw he was at perfect liberty so to do. A certificate to this effect, if obtained in season, will be found hereto appended, marked B. That upon their arrival at this port they were landed at Deer island, occupied exclusively by one of the charitable institutions of Boston, for the purpose of keeping the men out of the hands of sharpers; and that the Boston harbor police were on duty there to prevent depredations upon the city property and to quell the disturbances that arose among the men themselves. That they were there informed of the nature of the obligations they were about to assume by Dr. Jeffries, who speaks both French and German, whose high character is known to your excellency, and is a sufficient guarantee of the fidelity of his transactions and explanations, and whose statement is hereto appended, marked A.

That, so far from expecting to be employed in trades, their attention was pointed to myself as the commander of the regiment to which they were to be attached; and several of them, at their own request, were presented to me, and in particular the man Barbier, who preferred a request to be promoted as soon as possible; to which I replied that he would be recommended for promotion as soon as he had acquired a sufficient knowledge of our language and shown himself qualified to hold a commission. That others, who were rejected by the examining surgeon as physically unfit for the service, loudly appealed to me to accept them as soldiers, declaring that they came for that sole purpose; and no one of them could have been so simple as really to believe that even the philanthropists of Boston would pay $64 for the passage and bestow a bounty of $100 to induce an emigrant to come to America to work at his trade. That in no case whatever was compulsion used, nor could any single person there doubt the purpose for which the papers were submitted for their signatures. Our officers were in uniform, the general conversation was of their destination, the very camp on Galloup’s island to which they were to be conveyed was in plain sight, and was shown to them, dotted with its white tents and barracks, and upon the departure of the first squad of about 100 for the camp, the others, thinking that they had been rejected as recruits, broke out into violent demonstrations of disappointment and anger, and were only appeased by the assurances given them that they, too, would go to camp as soon as the formalities of enlistment could be completed.

That as to the Joss of clothing to the amount of $200 each, which was complained of, he would have been rash speculator who would have given $200 for the entire wardrobes of the whole party of nearly 400 men.

The difficulty with Barbier, who appeared to be a gentleman of education and had held a military commission, would seem to be his misapprehension of the position of a substitute in our service, and his ignorance of the fact that when mustered he stands on the same footing as to position and opportunities for promotion with any other volunteer. If this were explained to him, I think his discontent would cease.

Believing that this explanation covers every point presented in the complaint, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A.

Colonel; In so far as the communication you send me relates to myself, I would respectfully report the following: I happened to have examined this man, Jean Barbier, and to have had considerable conversation with him on my own part, and as interpreter between yourself and him. I also acted as interpreter for the provost marshals when the men were sworn into the service, both in French and German. In this capacity I acted honestly and faithfully, and took a great deal of time to explain and translate the oath to the men before and at the time of their being sworn in.

I do not remember to have had the conversation which private Barbier says I had with him; but if I did, my answer was correct, as the money he received would have no effect upon his promotion. It was not a bounty, substitutes receiving none from the United States or the State of Massachusetts. I explained to the men that they served in the place of some one who paid their expenses and the $100 they received. In reference to any compulsion, I would say that as there were none but infantry regiments open to those not speaking the English language, I myself, by personal application, succeeded in obtaining places in cavalry regiments for two or three men, which places they finally would not take, and did not, therefore, enter the service at all.

By conversation with the men I ascertained that they came here to be soldiers, although, as they told me themselves, this could not of course be expressed in the contract which they all signed before embarking from Europe, for fear of international difficulty. I saw the contract printed in the English and foreign languages, and there was nothing in it in reference to being soldiers. The men knew they were making another with the United States when they were sworn in, which was in no way compulsory and not connected with the other. They said they were promised $100 in United States money and a free passage, which they received. I was greatly annoyed by those whom I rejected being clamorous to go with the others, they saying that they did not come here to work, but to be soldiers. Some of them showed me their papers, proving they had served at home and were recently discharged, and they felt on that account they ought to be fit for soldiers here.

I remain, colonel, respectfully,