Shoddy ... so so shoddy. And corrupt! part 4

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Shoddy ... so so shoddy. And corrupt!  part 4


Bribery of government officials started at the lowest levels and went all the way to the top. Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, head inspector George Updyke, and Secretary of War Simon Cameron were all accused of corruption.

When Lincoln became President, he reluctantly appointed Cameron Secretary of War. His tenure was marked by allegations of corruption and lax management, and he was forced to resign early in 1862.

His corruption was so notorious that US Representative Thaddeus Stevens (also from Pennsylvania), when asked whether Cameron would steal, said "I don't think that he would steal a red hot stove." (Cameron demanded Stevens retract this insult. Stevens said to Lincoln "I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back.")

So, heads rolled once all this chicanery was uncovered, right?

Wrong.

The only example I could find of someone actually prosecuted for the shoddy goods and graft was Brig. Gen. J. McKinstry, Quarter-Master, Western Department. On November 11, 1861, McKinstry was ordered arrested. On November 13, 1861, McKinstry was suspended.

After his arrest, McKinstry was held in close confinement at the St. Louis Arsenal until February 22, 1862 when his confinement was enlarged to the city limits of St. Louis. During his time under suspension and arrest, McKinstry wrote Vindication of Brig. Gen. J. McKinstry, Formerly Quarter-Master, Western Department.

If you're eager to read it it's $6.99 on Amazon ( I don't think I will ever read it):

https://www.amazon.com/Vindication-McKinstry-Quarter-Master-Department-electronic-ebook/dp/B00NDI6ROE


In October 1862, he was convicted by court-martial of graft, corruption, and fraud in the quartermaster's office at St, Louis, Missouri.

A St. Louis contractor, Child, Pratt & Fox, admitted to making a profit of $280,000 on $800,000 in sales during the few months of McKinstry's command of the quartermaster department at St. Louis. McKinstry required other contractors to sell goods to Child, Pratt & Fox, which sold them to the army at inflated prices and gave McKinstry a share of the profits.

Historian Stewart Sifakis wrote: "While there may well have been other crooks in the uniform of a Union general, New York-born Justus McKinstry was the only one convicted and dismissed during the Civil War.

On January 28, 1863, after more than a year under arrest and three months after his court martial hearings, McKinstry was cashiered "for neglect and violation of duty to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. McKinstry was one of only three Union Army generals to be cashiered during the American Civil War


First the cash, then the cashiering, I guess.

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