In these biographical notes it has not been attempted to preserve chronological order throughout, as the reader has observed, and we now revert to sundry important facts in Officer McWatters' history, which have been passed over by us without allusion. Perhaps the chief service which McWatters has rendered to the soldiers is the successful war he waged against the Bounty Claim Agents in 1868-69. As the law regarding bounties then stood, the agents were able to grossly swindle the soldiers. And many of these agents, all over the land, and probably the most of them, did swindle them. To appreciate the full merit of Officer McWatters in circumventing the swindling agents, it is necessary to understand how they operated with poor soldiers; and as we find in the New York Times of March 21, 1869, a succinct explanation of their mode of operations, we transfer a portion of the article containing it to these pages. It will be found interesting as an item in the history of the times (as well as a comment upon the beauties of civilization in general). The article is headed "Bounty Swindlers," and goes on to say:-- "Herman, who is well known as a former claim agent in this city, is now at large, under forfeited bail of ten thousand dollars, for swindling discharged soldiers, who were credulous enough to trust him, out of their well-deserved bounties. It is estimated by the authorities that he made nearly twenty thousand dollars by these operations, which he has so carefully disposed of that it cannot be recovered by his unfortunate victims. There are, perhaps, fifty others of the same stripe in this city, who have gathered small fortunes by thus defrauding the soldier or his widow and orphans. "To protect the soldiers from these sharks, Mr. French, Second Auditor of the Treasury Department at Washington, has, from time to time, suspended all business transactions with them. This had the effect of stopping the frauds for a while, but the swindlers soon found a method of overcoming the obstruction. This they did by procuring willing tools through whom they operated as successfully as ever. "There are said to be thousands of dishonest agents all over the United States, who are continually engaged in this nefarious business. They are principally lawyers who have no reputation to lose, and who, therefore, are indifferent to public opinion.