Now, there is no evidence whatever to show, in the first place, his identity as the John Lewis who enlisted as indicated; and even if he were the same John Lewis there is no evidence whatever to justify Congress in removing the charge of desertion or in affording the relief prayed for. Your committee therefore report the bill back to the Senate adversely, and recommend that it be indefinitely postponed and the relief prayed for be not granted. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JULY 10, 1890.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. COCKRELL, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany S. 2527.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2527) to remove the charge of desertion from the record of Manus Hanbelt, have duly considered the same and submit the following report. This bill directs the Secretary of War to remove the charge of desertion from the record of Manus Hanbelt, late of Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In connection with this bill there was filed with your committee the affidavit of said Manes Hanvelt, the claimant, and also the affidavit of Phil Blakely, both of the same company. In his affidavit, Hanvelt claims that he was detailed to help cook for some of the officers of the regiment, and while the boat was lying at St. Joseph, Mo., he went ashore to obtain supplies, and before he could return the boat pulled out and thereby he was left, and no way possible for him to rejoin his company and regiment, and he returned to his home. Phil Blakely makes affidavit that he was detailed as cook for the officers and that the said Hanvelt was detailed to assist him, and that at St. Joseph, Mo., it became necessary to send a detail ashore for stores, and in that detail which went ashore, among others, was Manes Hanvelt, and before he could return to the boat the boat pulled out and left him on shore. Your committee referred the bill to the Secretary of War for information and report, and received in reply the following letter from the Secretary of War and accompanying report from the record and pension division of the War Department. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, March 28, 1890. SIR: In reply to your request of the 27th instant for information upon Senate bill 2527, Fifty-first Congress, first session, to provide for the removal of the charge of desertion from the record of Manus Hanbelt, I have the honor to inclose a report from the officer in charge of the record and pension division of this Department. Very respectfully, Hon. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, REDFIELD PROctor, Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate. Case of Manes Hanvelt, late private, Company G, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers.. RECORD AND PENSION DIVISION, March 28, 1890. Manes Hanvelt, private, Company G, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, was enrolled on March 9, 1865, to serve one year. He is reported present with his company on June 30, 1865, and as having deserted on August 26, 1865. He never returned from desertion, although his company was retained in service until July 14, 1866. The company morning reports show him, "Deserted, August 26, 1865, at St. Joseph, Mis. souri, while the company was on the steamer Lacey. No testimony in the case is on file in the War Department. As the service of this soldier prior to May 1, 1865, amounted to a period less than six months, and as it does not appear that on the date when he left his command he was suffering from any wounds, disease, or injury incurred in the line of duty, and was thereby prevented from completing his term of service, the Department is not empowered to remove the charge of desertion under the provisions of the act of Congress, approved March 2, 1889. The name of this soldier is not borne as Manus Hanbelt. The SECRETARY OF WAR. F. C. AINSWORTH, Captain and Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Ármy. From this official report the name of the claimant is seen to be "Manes Hauvelt," and that he was enlisted on March 9, 1865, to serve one year, and deserted August 26, 1865, at St. Joseph, Mo., while the company was on the steamer Lacey, and that his company was retained in the service until June 14, 1866, and that the claimant never returned to his company from the date of the alleged desertion until its musterout at Madison, Wis., in June, 1866. From the official papers obtained from the War Department in the case of William Winchell, of the same company, for whose relief a similar bill has been presented, it appears that three members of Company G are shown to have deserted on August 26, 1865, at St. Joseph, Mo., and sixteen soldiers from other companies of the same regiment deserted at the same time and place. No effort seems to have been made by this soldier to rejoin his command or to communicate with his company and advise his officers of the fact of his having been left without fault on his part, if such were the case, and in this way have prevented this charge of desertion being made. His regiment was transported to Madison, Wis., in 1866 and there mustered out of the service, and this soldier had certainly not performed such severe and arduous duties from the time of his enlistment on the 9th of March, 1865 to the 26th of August, 1865 as to keep him from rejoining his company at or before the date of its muster-out. Your committee therefore see no just grounds upon which the relief prayed for in this bill can be granted, and therefore report the bill back to the Senate adversely, and recommend that the relief prayed for be not granted. 1st Session. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JULY 10, 1890.-Ordered to be printed. No. 1475. Mr. COCKRELL, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany S. 2526.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2526) to remove the charge of desertion from the record of William Winchell, have duly considered the same and submit the following report: This bill directs the Secretary of War to remove the charge of desertion from the record of William Winchell, late of Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Accompanying the bill were the following affidavits of William Winchell and Phil. Blakely: STATE OF WISCONSIN, County of Pierce, 88: Personally appeared before me, a clerk of the circuit court within and for said county and State, William Winchell, who is fifty years of age, and whose post-office address is Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minn., post-office box 462, and who was a private in Company G, Fiftieth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers; being first duly sworn, deposes and says that he was detailed to help cook for some of the officers of said regiment on the way up the Missouri River on their way to Fort Rice, Dak., in the fall (about September) 1865, and while the boat was lying at St. Joseph, Mo., he was sent ashore to obtain supplies, and before he could return the boat on which the company and regiment were traveling pulled out and proceeded on her journey, and thereby the said William Winchell was left, and no way possible for him to rejoin his company or regiment, he returned to his home in Wisconsin. This affidavit is made for the purpose of obtaining a discharge from the service. WILLIAM WINCHELL. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 24th day of February, 1888. [SEAL.] STATE OF WISCONSIN, County of Pierce, 88: E. J. FITZGERALD, Clerk of the Circuit Court. Personally appeared before me, a clerk of the circuit court within and for said County and State, Phil. Blakely, who is forty-nine years of age, and whose post-office address is Waverly, Pierce County, Wis., and who was a private in Company G, Fiftieth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers; being first duly sworn deposes and says that he was detailed as cook for several of the officers of said regiment on the way up the Missouri River on their way to Fort Rice, in thefall (about September), 1865, and that among other soldiers of said Company G, William Winchell was detailed to assist said Blakely in the duties of cook, and while our boat was lying at St. Joseph, Mo., it became necessary to send a detail ashore for stores and in that detail that thus went ashore among others were the said William Winchell, and before he could return to the boat on which the company and regiment were quartered the boat pulled out and proceeded on her journey and thereby the said William Winchell was left and no way possible for him to join his company or regiment, he then returned to his home in Wisconsin. This affidavit is made for the purpose of assisting said Winchell to obtain a discharge from the service. Sworn and subscribed before me this 24th day of February, 1888. [SEAL.] PHIL. BLAKELY. É. J. FITZGERALD, Clerk of the Circuit Court. Your committee referred the bill to the Secretary of War for information and report, and in reply received the following letter from the Secretary and the accompanying report from the record and pension division: WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, March 28, 1890. SIR: In reply to your request of the 27th instant for information upon Senate bill 2526, Fifty-first Congress, first session, to provide for removal of the charge of desertion from the record of William Winchell, I have the honor to inclose a report from the officer in charge of the record and pension division of this Department. Very respectfully, Hon. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate. Case of William Winchell, late private Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteers. RECORD AND PENSION DIVISION, March 28, 1890. William Winchell, private, Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteers, was enrolled on March 3, 1865, to serve one year, and is reported as having deserted on August 26, 1865, at St. Joseph, Mo. On the date of the desertion the company was on the steamer I. H. Lacey, en route from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Rice, Dakota. He never returned, although his company was retained in service until June 14, 1866, when it was mustered out at Madison, Wis. On March 8, 1880, this man made application for his discharge, and testified that, while en route for Fort Rice, Dakota, the transport stopped at St. Joseph, Mo., and "all went ashore;" while there the transport left, and he with many others was left without any chance to join the company. He was informed by the Department on May 4, 1880, that, as he appears to have made no effort to rejoin his company, he can only be considered as an actual deserter and discharged as such. An application for removal of the charge of desertion was rejected on January 18, 1886, the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 5, 1884, not warranting the desired relief; and since that date the status of the case has not been changed by the introduction of new testimony, or by subsequent legislation, the act of Congress approved March 2, 1889, making six months' faithful service prior to and until May 1, 1865, a requisite for relief in a case of this character. Respectfully submitted. The SECRETARY OF WAR. F. C. AINSWORTH, Captain and Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Ármy. In order to get all information possible, your committee again applied to the record and pension division of the War Department for additional information, and received in reply the following letter and the accompanying copy of the application of William Winchell for the removal of the charge of desertion, made to the War Department: WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, June 24, 1890. SIR Referring to your request of the 21st instant (received in this Department on the 23d instant), for certain information relative to the case of William Winchell, a former member of Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteers, additional to that contained in report furnished the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs by this Department on March 28, 1890, upon Senate bill, No. 2526, Fifty-first Congress, first session, I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that the official records show that three men (including Winchell) deserted August 26, 1865, at St. Joseph, Missouri, from Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteers, and that 16 men deserted at the same time and place from other companies of that regiment. Philip Blakely, Company G, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteers, is borne on muster roll of that company for July and Angust, 1865, as "present on daily duty as cook since August 20, 1865," and he is so reported on subsequent rolls to and including April 30, |