I saw a reference to the "President's Proclamation of March 10, 1863" which seemed to indicate that the president would reinstate deserters who returned voluntarily and agreed to continue to serve. Does anyone have any specific information concerning this proclalmation? Jack Cox Overland Park, KS

The book by E. B. and Barbara Long, The Civil War Day by Day, for Tuesday, Mar 10, 1863 states: "President Lincoln issued a proclamation of amnesty to soldiers absent without leave if they reported before April 1; otherwise they would be arrested as deserters." I don't have any other info on the proclamation, but have done quite a bit of research on Morgan Co. soldiers. I have 4280+ data lines of events representing 3500+ soldiers. I show 187 desertions. Several went back and served honorably, often in another unit. There are two groups that are prevelent..1. Those who were in a unit that was having severe problems, such as when several companies of the 101st was overrun by Van Dorn and many of the officers were captured. 2. Substitutes that never showed up, or only stayed a few days. Other than these two problems, it's pretty random. There was a unit in Southern Ill. that was disbanded because of "totally incompetent officers, as represented by a very high rate of desertions." I would expect that these numbers are pretty average. Norm Morgan Co. in the Civil War http://www.pacifier.com/~normw At 08:03 PM 2/5/01 -0600, you wrote: >I saw a reference to the "President's Proclamation of March 10, 1863" >which seemed to indicate that the president would reinstate deserters >who returned voluntarily and agreed to continue to serve. > >Does anyone have any specific information concerning this proclalmation? > >Jack Cox >Overland Park, KS