Preparing for the Prodigal Sons: The Development of the Union Desertion Policy during the Civil War

Abstract

Preparing for the Prodigal Sons: The Development of the Union Desertion Policy during the clvil war Mark A. Weitz In March i 864, nine men of the Georgia State Line from Lumpkin, Hall, and Marion Counties faced courts martial on the charge of desertion. They stood accused of leaving their camp at Resaca, Georgia, with the intent to desert to the enemy. In addition to the contents of their haversacks and the admissions they had made to fellow soldiers, the evidence against them included a letter written by one of them, F. E. Franklin, to his brother. The letter discussed a plan conceived by Franklin, his brother, and seven others, to "slip away" and desert to the Yankees. In the letter, Franklin cautioned his brother against moving too soon, as he believed that Sherman would soon push the Confederate army back into Georgia and the closeness of the two armies would make it easier to slip quietly into the Union lines. Franklin not only failed to convince his brother, but he failed to heed his own advice. Perhaps swayed by his brother's zeal or the opinions of the rest of the group, Franklin joined in the scheme. They should have waited. Not one of the nine men made it to the Union lines. However, even with the letter, none were convicted of deserting to the enemy. One of their party, Pvt. Francis C. Tumlin of Hall County, the apparent ringleader, received a sentence dismissing him from his Georgia regiment and reassigning him to a unit as far from Georgia and Hall County as possible.1 These Georgia soldiers unsuccessfully attempted what many of their comrades would accomplish throughout the war, deserting the Confederate army and turning themselves over to the Union authorities. However, the act of deserting to the Union army indicated that desertion among Southern soldiers had taken on a significant new meaning. Historically, desertion served as a measure of an 1 Court Martial Proceedings of Private Francis C. Tumlin, Co. D, Ist Georgia State Line, Adjutant General's court martial proceedings, Georgia Record Group 3336-17, folder 1, box 1, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Ga. (hereafter cited as GDAH). Civil War History, Vol. xlv No. 2 © 1999 by The Kent State University Press 100CIVIL WAR HISTORY army's morale, but it seldom indicated that its soldiers had embraced the enemy's cause. Desertion simply meant a voluntary, if illegal departure from service. During theAmerican Civil War desertion took on a deeper meaning; by abandoning his military duty a soldier simultaneously abandoned the Southern cause. This became possible when the Union began offering deserters the opportunity to swear the oath of allegiance to the Federal government in exchange for their release and the opportunity to return home. When this program became a reality in the late summer of 1863, Confederate deserters became the first rebels to return to the Union. Some remained in the North until the war ended. Others returned home, increasingly easily later in the war as the Union army displaced Southern civilian and military authorities. Some men became "galvanized Confederates ," men who not only deserted and took the oath but then also joined Union army units sent to the frontier.2 However, all of those who successfully deserted to the enemy were among the earliest Southern citizens to undergo reconstruction. On December 8, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation ofAmnesty and Reconstruction, an executive order that offered a full pardon and restoration of all rights to Confederates who reaffirmed their allegiance by taking an oath of future loyalty. The program represented Lincoln's first attempt at a comprehensive plan of reconstruction. At the same time, the plan provided a means to shorten the war by undermining civilian enthusiasm for the war effort, and by preparing the South for emancipation. Known as the 10 percent plan, Lincoln's reconstruction order allowed any state whose loyal members equaled 10 percent of the i860 registered voters to form a new state government that would be entitled to representation in Washington.3 Lincoln's plan excluded high-ranking Confederates, allowed Congress to establish its own qualifications for readmitting members, and provided an acceptable loyalty oath. Yet...