773. THE general
duties of the adjutant-general and of the assistant adjutant-generals
have been laid down under the head of army organization.
The
adjutant-generals of the several States are required to make annual
returns of the strength and condition of the militia, the state of the
arms, etc., applicable to military purposes, to the governor or
commander-in-chief of the State, and to forward a consolidated return
of the militia, arms, etc., to the President of the United States
through the adjutant-general of the United States army, agreeable to a
form furnished by him.
Assistant
adjutant-generals, in addition to the duties already specified in
general terms, attend to the formation of their divisions or brigades,
publish all orders received at division or brigade headquarters; issue
all orders proceeding from the general commanding the division or
brigade; preserve the records of the division or brigade; inspect and
form division or brigade guards; prepare and keep the necessary rosters
of the officers of the division or brigade; and regulate all
details for duty depending upon the rosters.
774. It is the duty of the assistant adjutant-general of each brigade,
to prepare a morning
report
of the brigade, every morning after the receipt of the regimental
morning reports (see Form No. 2), in accordance with Form No.3, which
is signed by him and the general commanding the brigade, and forwarded
to division head-
660 MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
AND MILITIA .
quarters. The assistant
adjutant-general of the division prepares, in like manner, a
consolidated morning report of the division, to be transmitted to the
adjutant-general of the army corps, or army of which the division forms
a part. (See Form No.4).
Thus the
commanding-general is from day to day kept advised as to the exact
strength and condition of his command.
The assistant
adjutant-general of a detached brigade, division, or army in the field,
has to prepare a monthly return of the command, to be signed by himself
and his commanding general, to be forwarded to the adjutant-general at
general head-quarters.
775. When orders
are received at, or emanated from the headquarters of an army or army
corps, the adjutant-general, or assistant adjutant-general, as the case
may be, transmits copies to each of the assistant adjutant-generals at
division head-quarters; the assistant adjutant-generals at division
head-quarters in turn transmit copies to the assistant at each of the
brigade head-quarters, and from brigade head-quarters they go to the
adjutants of regiments, by whom they are read to the troops on parade.
When troops are on a campaign, the orders are given to officers of the
staff, who report for them daily at the different head-quarters. See
article "Orders."
776. The parole and countersign emanate
daily from head-quarters, in the form of "special orders;" copies of
both under seal are transmitted to division head-quarters; from them to
brigade headquarters, and from brigade head-quarters to regimental
head-quarters, provided there is any officer of the regiment who is
entitled to the parole; if not, the countersign only is sent. Copies of
one or both are sent to such persons of the division, brigade, or
regiment, as may be entitled to them.
The parole is only sent
to the field
and regimental officers of the day, officers of guards, and to such
other officers as may be entitled to visit and inspect guards.
The parole and
countersign are
usually sent out on small pieces of paper, so folded as to make it
impossible to discover either without breaking the seal. Fig. 177 shows
the manner in which the paper should be folded; abcd is the paper, of which ac is a little
THE
STAFF. 661
longer than ab; it is folded so as to bring
the edge cd to coincide with df, the point c being brought to f, the fold being along de;
Fig. 177.
the point d is then folded over upon e, making the fold along the
line fg; the projecting edge abfe is then folded over, sealed
near both ends, and the "countersign" is directed on the opposite side.
779. By the
militia laws of Virginia, and most of the other States, the division
and brigade inspectors are the chiefs of staff of their respective
divisions and brigades, and they discharge the duties of assistant
adjutant-generals in the divisions and brigades with which they serve.
778. The
adjutants of regiments are the chiefs of the regimental staffs, and
perform within their regiments the various duties required of them in
the formation of their regiments, in all parades, inspec-
662 MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
AND MILITIA .
tions, manoeuvres,
formation of
guards, etc. The adjutant publishes all orders received at regimental
head-quarters, and issues all orders emanating from the head-quarters
of the regiment; keeps a roster of the officers of the regiment, and
makes all details for duty from the roster; has charge of the
field-music, band, and pioneers; and discharges such other duty as his
colonel may require.
At the first
sergeant's call,
the orderly sergeants of companies present the morning reports of their
companies, made off in conformity with the requirements of Form No.1,
and signed by their captains. The adjutant then proceeds to make off
the morning report of the regiment, as required inForm No.2, which is
signed by himself and the colonel, and transmitted to brigade
head-quarters.
On receiving the
parole and countersign from brigade head-quarters, he sends a copy of
both to the colonel and to the regimental officer of the day, and
copies of the countersign to the surgeon, and such other of the staff
officers of the regiment as, from the nature of their duties, may
require it.
The
Quarter-Master's Department.
779. This
department has to provide quarters and transportation for the troops;
storage and transportation for all supplies; clothing; camp and
garrison equipage; cavalry and artillery horses; fuel; forage; straw,
and stationery. Its duties, when troops are in actual service, are very
important, and embrace such a wide range of subjects, that a large
number of agents, and thorough organization, are indispensable.
780. Under the
head of quarters are included all buildings for the use of an army; as
quarters for men and officers, hospitals, store-houses, offices, and
stables. When quarters are to be occupied, they are allotted by the
quarter-master at the station, under the control of the commanding
officer.
The number of rooms and amount of fuel for officers and men are as
follows:
THE STAFF.
No officer shall
occupy more than his proper quarters, except by order of the commanding
officer when there is an excess of quarters at the station. But the
amount of quarters shall be reduced pro rata by the commanding officer
when the number of officers and troops make it necessary.
A mess room, and
fuel for it, are allowed only when a majority of the officers of a post
or regiment unite in a mess. Fuel for a
664 MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
AND MILITIA .
mess room should not be
used elsewhere, or for any other purpose.
Fuel issued to
officers or troops is public property for their use, and what is not
actually consumed should be returned to the quartermaster's department.
Fuel is issued only in the month when due.
In allotting
quarters, officers have choice according to rank; but the commanding
officer may direct the officers to be stationed convenient to their
troops. An officer may select quarters occupied by a junior; but having
made his choice, he must abide by it, and shall not again at the post
displace a junior, unless himself displaced by a senior.
An officer
arriving at a station should make requisition on the quartermaster for
his quarters and fuel, accompanied by a copy of the order putting him
on duty at the station. If in command of troops, his requisition should
be for the whole, and designate the number of officers of each grade,
of non-commissioned officers, soldiers, and servants.
781. When troops
are moved, or officers travel with escorts or stores, the means of
transport provided shall be for the whole command. Proper orders in the
case, and an exact return of the command, including officers' servants
and company women, will be furnished to the quartermaster who is to
furnish the transportation. The baggage to be transported is limited to
camp and garrison equipage, and officers' baggage. Officers' baggage
should not exceed (mess-chest and all personal effects included) as
follows:
These amounts may be
reduced pro
rata by the commanding officer when necessary, and may be increased on
transports by water, when proper, in special cases.
THE
STAFF. 665
All the books,
papers, and instruments necessary for the duties of staff officers;
also regimental and company desks, and the medicine chests of medical
officers, must be transported.
Estimates of the
medical director, approved by the commanding officer, for the
transportation of the hospital service, and the sick, will be furnished
to the quartermaster.
The baggage
trains, ambulances for the sick and wounded, and all the means of
transport, continue in charge of the proper officers of the
quartermaster's department, under the control of the commanding
officers.
When supplies are
turned over to the quartermaster for transportation, each package must
be directed, and its contents marked on it.
On transports,
cabin passage is provided for the officers, and reasonable and proper
accommodation for the troops, and, when possible, a separate apartment
for the sick.
782. The forage
ration is fourteen pounds of hay, and twelve pounds of oats, corn, or
barley. Forage is issued to officers only in the month when due, and at
their proper stations, and for the horses actually kept by them in
service, not exceeding in number as follows: In time of war,
major-general, seven horses; brigadier-general, five; colonels who have
the cavalry allowance, five; other colonels, four; lieutenant-colonels
and majors who have the cavalry allowance, four; other
lieutenant-colonels and majors, three; captains who have the cavalry
allowance, three; all other officers entitled to forage, two: and in
time of peace, general and field officers, three horses; officers below
the rank of field officers in the regiments of cavalry, etc., two
horses; all other officers entitled to forage, one horse.
No officer is
allowed to sell forage issued to him. Forage issued to public horses or
cattle is public property; whatever is not consumed is accounted for.
783. Issues of stationery are made quarterly, in amount as follows:
666
MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA .
Steel pens, with
one holder to 12 pens, may be issued in place of quills, and envelopes
in place of envelope paper, at the rate of 100 to the quire.
To each officer
is allowed an inkstand, one stamp, paper-folder, sand-box, wafer-box,
and as many lead pencils as may be required.
Necessary
stationery for military courts and boards will be furnished on the
requisition of the recorder, approved by the presiding officer.
Regimental, company, and post books, and printed blanks for the
THE
STAFF. 667.
officers of
quartermaster and pay departments, will be procured by requisition on
the quartermaster-general.
Postage and
dispatches by telegraph on public business, paid by an officer, will be
refunded to him on his certificate to the amount, and to the necessity
of the communication by telegraph.
784. Supplies of
clothing aud camp and garrison equipage will be sent by the
quartermaster-general to the officers of his department stationed with
the troops. The contents of each package, and the sizes of the clothing
in it, will be marked on it..
The allowance of camp and garrison equipage is as follows:
Bed sacks and
straw are provided for troops in garrison. Requisitions will be sent to
the quartermaster-general for the authorized flags, colors, standards,
guidons, drums, fifes, bugles, and trumpets.
Commanders of
companies draw the clothing of their men, and the camp and garrison
equipage for the officers and men of their company. The camp and
garrison equipage of other officers ;drawn on their own receipts.
When clothing is
needed for issue to the men, the company commander will procure it from
the quartermaster on requisition, approved by the commanding officer.
Commanders of
companies take receipts of their men for the clothing issued to them,
on a receipt roll, witnessed by an officer or non-commissioned officer.
Each soldier's clothing account is kept
668
MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA.
by the captain in a
company book, the account setting forth the money value of the clothing
received and receipted for.
785. Every
separate command should have its quartermaster; if it is a regiment, or
less, one of the subalterns may discharge the duty by order of the
commanding officers; if a brigade or division, an officer of the
quartermaster department is assigned by the quartermaster-general. In
the volunteers and militia, quartermasters are appointed by the
colonels, brigadier-generals, or major-generals of regiments, brigades,
or divisions; but while quartermasters so appointed must obey the
directions of their commanding officers, their accountability as
officers of the quartermaster's department is just the same.
All requisitions
for supplies, for transportation, forage, etc., are made upon the
quartermaster of the command requiring them; if it is in his power to
fill the requisition, he docs so; if not, he makes his requisition upon
the next higher officer of the department, and so on.
In order to facilitate the operations of the department, depots of
supplies, in charge of depot
quartermasters,
are established at convenient points, and from which quartermaster's
supplies are drawn upon proper requisition.
In order to
secure a proper accountability on the part of the officers of the
quartermaster's department, the quartermaster-general should institute
a proper system of returns, accounts, etc., requiring all officers of
the department to conform strictly to their requirements, and in the
settlement of their accounts to present satisfactory vouchers for all
money or public property expended. For the necessary forms see the
general regulations of the United States army.
Subsistence
Department.
780. Every
command should have its commissary or assistant commissary; when the
command is less than a regiment, the same officer may, and usually
does, discharge the duties of both commissary and quartermaster.
Subsistence supplies are issued on requisitions approved by the
THE
STAFF. 669
commanding officer, in
the same way
that quartermaster's supplies are issued. The commissary must, however,
so regulate his own requisitions upon purchasing or depot commissaries,
as to keep on hand a sufficient supply to meet the wants of the troops.
Good and
sufficient store-room for the subsistence stores will be procured by
the commissary from the quartermaster.
787. The ration
is three-fourths of a pound of pork or bacon, or one and a fourth
pounds of fresh or salt beef; eighteen ounces of bread or flour, or
twelve ounces of hard bread, or one and a fourth pounds of corn meal,
and at the rate, to one hundred rations, of eight quarts of peas or
beans, or, in lieu thereof, ten pounds of rice; six pounds of coffee;
twelve pounds of sugar; four quarts of vinegar, one and a half pounds
of tallow, or one and a fourth pounds of adamantine, or one pound sperm
candles; four pounds of soap, and two quarts of salt.
On a campaign, or on marches, or on board transports, the ration of
hard bread is one pound.
Fresh beef, when
it can be procured, should be furnished at least twice a week; the beef
to be procured, if possible, by contract.
788. Company
provision returns are usually made every week or ten days, in
accordance with Form No. 12; the return must be signed by the
commanding officer of the regiment, or post, when the command is less
than a regiment.
When it is practicable,
a
consolidated return for the regiment or post is made and signed by the
commanding officer (see form 13) ; but the return must state the
allowance for each company, in order to prevent any confusion in the
issues.
Issues to the
hospital are made on returns by the medical officer, for such
provisions only as are actually required for the sick and the
attendants. The cost of such parts of the ration as are issued is
charged to the hospital at contract or cost prices, and the hospital is
credited by the whole number of complete rations due through the month
at contract or cost prices; the balance, constituting the hospital
fund,
or any portion of it, may be expended by the commissary, on the
requisition of the medical officer, in the purchase of any article for
the subsistence or comfort of the sick.
670 MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
AND MILITIA.
An extra issue of
fifteen pounds of candles per month may be made to the principal guard
of each camp or garrison, on the order of the commanding officer. Extra
issues of soap, candles, and vinegar, are permitted to the hospital
when the surgeon does not avail himself of the commutation of the
hospital ration, or when there is no hospital fund; salt in small
quantities is issued .for public horses and cattle. When the officers
of the medical department find antiscorbutics necessary for the health
of the troops, the commanding officer may order issues of fresh
vegetables, pickled onions, saur kraut, or molasses, with an extra
quantity of rice and vinegar. Potatoes are usually issued at the rate
of one pound per ration, and onions at the rate of three bushels in
lieu of one of beans. Troops at sea are recommended to draw rice and an
extra issue of molasses in lieu of beans.
When a soldier is
detached on duty, and it is impracticable to carry his subsistence with
him, it will be commuted at seventy-five cents a day, to be paid by the
commissary, when due, or in advance, on the order of the commanding
officer. The ration of a .soldier stationed where he has no opportunity
of messing, is commuted at forty cents.
789. As in the
case of the quartermaster's department, the commissary-general should
organize such a system of returns, accounts, etc., on the part of the
officers of the department, as to ensure a proper accountability on
their part. See the army regulations for the necessary forms.
Medical
Department.
790. The senior
medical officer, on duty with any body of troops in the field, will,
unless otherwise specially ordered, be ex officio the medical director;
and will have the general control of the medical officers, and the
supervision of the hospitals under their charge.
The senior
medical officers of a hospital distribute the patients, according to
convenience and the nature of their complaints, into wards or
divisions, under the particular charge of the several assistant
surgeons, and should visit them himself each day, as frequently as the
state of the sick may require.
THE
STAFF. 671
His prescriptions
of medicine and diet are written down at once in the proper register,
with the name of the patient and the number of his bed; the assistants
fill up the diet table for the day, and direct the administration of
the prescribed medicine.
He should enforce
the proper hospital regulations to promote health and prevent
contagion, by ventilated and not crowded rooms, scrupulous cleanliness,
frequent changes of bedding, linen, etc.
791. At surgeon's
call, the sick then in the companies will be conducted to the hospital
by the first sergeants, who will each hand to the surgeon, in his
company book, a list of all the sick of the company, on which the
surgeon shall state who are to remain or go into hospital; who are to
return to quarters as sick or convalescent; what duties the
convalescents in quarters are capable of; what cases are feigned; and
any other information in regard to the sick of the company he may have
to communicate to the captain. He will then make a morning report of
the sick to the commanding officer (Form No. 17).
Pay
Department.
792. The troops should
be paid in
such manner that the arrears shall at no time exceed two months, unless
the circumstances of the case render it unavoidable. The
paymaster-general should take care, by timely remittances, that the
paymasters have the necessary funds to pay the troops.
The payments, except to
officers and
discharged soldiers, are made on muster and pay rolls; those of
companies and detachments, are signed by the company or detachment
commander; those of the hospital are signed by the surgeon; and all
muster and pay rolls are signed by the mustering and inspecting
officer.
Copies of the necessary
blank forms
for muster and pay rolls may always be obtained from the office of the
Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington. These blanks are too large to
be properly represented in a work like this.
When a company is
paraded for
payment, the men should be called to the pay table one at a time,
commencing with the noncommissioned officers, who are paid according to
rank; the privates
672 MANUAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
AND MILITIA .
are called in
alphabetical order.
Every member of the company, or detachment, must, on receiving his pay,
sign his name opposite his name the pay roll, and his signature must be
witnessed by the captain, or some other officer of the company, or
detachment, whose duty it is to be present when the company, or
detachment, is paid.
Officers are paid on certified accounts, as in Form 5.
(Right
Click and select View Image to see the full size image)
For
more complete information on 19th Century
Military Drill, visit the
main page.
