b'Forty Miles continued from page 45to alleviate their boredom by putting on skits, playingthird of the men recruited between 1867 and 1891 had cards, or if they were talented and fortunate to have adeserted" (Ibid. p.143).Elkins went on to add that ". in guitar, banjo or access to a piano, play music, favoritean 1891 survey among the 194 deserter-convicts in the songs being "The Girl I Left Behind", "Garry Owen", andmilitary prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, showed that "I\'ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen." There was alsoliquor and general dissatisfaction were the two major reading for the literate soldiers, or if they were fortunatecauses, and tyrannical superiors the most often reported enough to be near a town, off-duty leave to see a musicalspecific reason for desertion" (Ibid., p.145). Coupled with troupe or see a play. general dissatisfaction were three other important facts - poor living conditions, poor food, and lousy pay.For others though, their form of release was, to mildly put it, detrimental to both themselves and theirAccording to Nevin: "The bulk of those who deserted command. If a town was nearby, the enlisted soldierleft within their first year of service. Many of them could find feminine company at the local drinkingwere recruits who signed up in hard times when jobs hole (saloon) or the bordello, gamble his wages away,were scarce and Army pay plus room and board looked or drown his sorrows in whiskey or beer. Alcoholismhighly attractive. But that Army pay was both deceptive almost reached epidemic proportions at the frontierOrganized by Theodore Roosevelt, theand disappointing. Originally $16 a month, it was forts. Many of Custer\'s subordinate officers wereRough Riders regiment was made up ofreduced to $13 in 1871, and soldiers did not even get alcoholics or had a serious drinking problem. Boththe purchasing power of that miserly amount. The Army Reno and Benteen had truncated careers after theone thousand "good shots and good riders"paid its men in paper currency; on the frontier paper Little Big Horn in great part due to their consumption- cowboys, Army scouts, and formermoney usually had to be converted to gold or silver of alcohol. Another shot himself in a fit of deliriumbefore it could be spent, and, in any case, the paper tremors. Captain Thomas Weir, the young gallantIndian fighters predominating. bills were discounted from 15 to 40 percent. Naturally officer and Custer devotee who tried to ride with hisenough then, desertions invariably increased when company to Custer\'s aid that afternoon on the Big Horneconomic conditions improved. Men who went over and was forever haunted by what he perceived as hisHay, p. 150). the hill usually took along their horse, rifle, and other failure to do so, gradually lapsed into alcoholism afterAfter years of squabbling with sutlers and whiskeyequipment, which would bring from $150 to $300 on the the battle, dying seven months later shockingly youngtraders, Generals Sherman and Sheridan had hadfrontier. Occasionally a furious officer would chase after and still active. The aforementioned Myles Keogh wasenough, and starting in 1881 the sale of alcohol wasdeserters, but usually, a man on the run was safe if he prone to fits of depression which he drowned with theprohibited in the forts, but by then the worst damagecould get far enough away" (Nevin, The Soldiers, p.68).bottle. It is estimated that "in the 1880s no less thanhad been done.four percent of American Soldiers (at least 1,000 menThe reaction of officers and general staff when it came out of a 25,000 man regular army were hospitalized asAn even more serious problem than that of alcoholism,to dealing with deserters was mixed. Some hard-nosed alcoholics - and this was a period when a man had tothough in major part related to it, was that of theofficers like Custer preferred shooting their deserters be in advanced delirium tremors or a condition equallyprevalence of desertion. According to Rickey: "Desertionto make an example to men thinking such thoughts of grave to qualify for treatment"(Nevin, The Soldiers,was by far the most prevalent serious militarygoing AWOL. Others were more benevolent. With all p.73).Another estimate was just as close, citing thatcrime during the last half of the nineteenth century.this one would wonder why morale was so high, why over forty men per 1,000 enlisted men were treated forRecapitulating the Regular Army\'s desertion losses,officers and men stayed loyal to the flag and stayed in alcoholism (Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans andSecretary of War Stephen B. Elkins reported that one- the army, even knowing, as some of Custer\'s officers TRACTOR Used Tractors: Kubota, John Deere, New Holland, etc.New Tractors: LS from25 hp and up.from UTVS to Car Haulers, Landscape and Dump Trailers, Special We Service & RepairOrders also available on New Trailers.Tractors, Trailers & UTVs.Grapple Buckets, Box Scrapers, Straight Blades, Rock Rakes, Chain Harrows, Arena Groomers, Brush Hogs, Post Hole Diggers, Post Drivers and More.46 May 2020'