the surgeons in the volunteer service. The 10 surgeons and 10 assistant surgeons were appointed by promotion from the Medical Corps. The seventh section made the increase provisional for the war, with the equitable provision that officers promoted from the Medical Corps of the Army should revert to the rank they would have held had they not accepted provisional advancement.

The objections to the next law of May 14 have been stated under the head of discharges. It was entitled-

An act to facilitate the discharge of enlisted men for physical disability,

and unwisely gave each medical inspector absolute power to discharge on his own certificate, without superior approval, any man whose physical disability might "make it disadvantageous to the service that he be retained therein."

The next important law, approved July 2, was both national and confederate in character. The first section authorized the President to appoint 40 surgeons and 120 assistant surgeons of volunteers; no appointment to be made until the officer had been examined by a medical board convened by the Secretary of War. The law further enacted that the vacancies in the grade of surgeon should be filled from the grade of assistant surgeon, "on the ground of merit only." The second section abolished the title of brigade surgeons, designated them surgeons of volunteers, and placed them all under the direction of the Surgeon-General.

The humanity of these two sections, whereby the best medical attendance was insured to such of the sick and wounded as came under the care of the regular and volunteer surgeons appointed by the President, is too obvious to need comment. The third and last section, by contrast, reveals the bad features of the State rights or confederate system. It authorized an additional assistant surgeon to each regiment of volunteers, but as these officers, more than a thousand in number, were appointed by the governors, any qualifying examination was out of the question.

The ablest as well as the most ignorant practitioners in the land were eligible for appointment. Such as came into the Army without receiving a previous license or diploma were permitted to experiment with the lives and health of their patients until found to be incompetent; or, detected in malpractice, they were at last brought before a board and dismissed from the service..

PENSIONS.

July 14, a law was passed relating to pensions.

The first section prescribed that noncommissioned officers and privates of the regulars, volunteers, and militia, "disabled by reason of any wound received or disease contracted while in the service of the United States and in the line of duty" should, on due proof, receive for the "highest rate of disability" the following pensions:

In case of the death of officer or soldier by reason of wounds or sickness contracted in the line of duty, the same pension was made payable to the widow, or if no widow, then to the children, subject to the condition that the pension should continue to the widow during her widowhood, or to the children till they severally reached the age of 16. Another scale of pensions was established for inferior rates of disability, and the law was also made applicable to the Navy.

TREASON AND SLAVERY.

July 17, an important law was passed relating to treason and slavery. The first section enacted that any person adjudged guilty of the crime of treason should suffer death, or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment for not less than five years, and a fine of not less than $10,000; in both cases his slaves were declared and made forever free. The ninth section enacted that all slaves of persons engaged in aiding and abetting the Rebellion who should escape to the lines of the Army, should

be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.

The tenth section forbade any slave escaping to another State or Territory, to be given up to his lawful owner except on condition that the owner had not borne arms against the Government, nor in any way given aid or comfort to the Rebellion. The same section also forbade any military or naval commander to give up any slave to his owner, or judge of the validity of the latter's title, on pain of being dismissed from the service.

The eleventh section looked to the military employment of the slaves or freedmen. It authorized the President

to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and proper for the suppression of this Rebellion, and for this purpose he may organize and use them in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare.

The same date, July 17, a second law a tended to promote the efficiency of the Regular Army.

In

The twelfth section placed it within the discretion of the President to retire any officer whose name had been borne on the Army or Navy register forty-five years, or who had reached the age of 62 years. the Navy this discretionary law was soon superseded by another, which made retirement compulsory at 62 years of age.

In the Army this discretionary power, still vested in the President, is the source of much annoyance to the Executive, while its uncertain exercise, chiefly controlled by personal and political considerations, blocks promotion, keeps officers who are unfit for field service in high station, paralyzes instruction, and destroys the independence and manliness of character, which are alone compatible with the efficient and faithful performance of duty."

a Callan's Military Laws of the United States, p. 200.

The Army Retiring Act of June 30, 1882, provides "that when an officer has served forty years, either as an officer or soldier in the regular or volunteer service, or both, he shall, if he makes application therefor to the President, be retired from active service and placed on the retired list, and when an officer is 64 years of age he shall be retired from active service and placed on the retired list." Military Laws of the United States (Davis).—EDITORS,

44461°-12-28

The seventeenth section related to summary dismissals, and read

That the President of the United States be, and hereby is, authorized and requested to dismiss and discharge from the military service, either in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Volunteer force, in the United States service, any officer for any cause which, in his judgment, either renders such officer unsuitable for, or whose dismission would promote, the public service. «

The twenty-second and last section added 1 colonel, 2 lieutenantcolonels, and 9 majors to the Adjutant-General's Department, abolished the grade of captain, and as a further means of promoting efficiency and lessening favoritism, prescribed that all the vacancies in the grade of major should be filled by selection from among the captains of the Army.

For the want of such a law relative to the administrative departments, it is not uncommon to see first lieutenants made majors and paymasters over the heads of all the captains of the Army; second lieutenants in like manner have been made captains and quartermasters over the heads of all the first lieutenants. In such cases promotion has been gained not by any pretension to merit, but by the unscrupulous use of political influence.

MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS.

The next law, approved July 17, reads like a chapter from the Journals of the Continental Congress during the darkest days of the Revolution. The two military committees which were primarily responsible for military legislation seemed incapable of profiting either by history or their own experience. Trust in the militia and a persistent adherence to short enlistments had bankrupted the Government in the struggle for independence; had led to Harmar's and St. Clair's defeats in the Indian wars of 1791; and more humiliating still, had led to the burning of Buffalo and the destruction of the capital in the war of 1812. To this policy, both impotent and extravagant, Congress again returned a fortnight after the close of the Seven Days' battle, at the very moment, too, that the Confederates were meditating their second advance upon Washington and the Potomac.

The first section of the law, looking to the States, authorized the President to call out the militia for any period not exceeding nine months.

It further provided that "if by reason of defects in existing laws or in the execution of them in the several States or any of them," it should be found necessary to "provide for enrolling the militia and otherwise putting this act into execution," the President should be authorized," in such cases, to make all necessary rules and regulations," the enrollment to embrace all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45.

The second section prescribed that the militia when called into service should be organized in the mode prescribed by law for the volunteers. A comparison of this law with the Constitution, will show that Congress, in declining to raise its own armies, again needlessly exposed the Government to a grave danger. The appointment of the officers of the militia was, by the Constitution, expressly reserved to the States; nevertheless, if any governors, through negligence or opposition refused to commission the officers, the law encouraged the President to

a Callan's Military Laws of the United States, p. 529.

go over their heads by conferring upon him the fullest authority for enrolling the militia "and otherwise putting the act into execution." The second section, under the constitutional right reserved to the States, implied a new army of raw troops, who, under State laws, could only be commanded by officers elected by their men. The mania for raw troops and short enlistments was not confined to the militia.

The third section, in addition to the million of volunteers previously authorized by law, empowered the President " to accept the services of any number of volunteers not exceeding 100,000, as infantry, for a period of nine months, unless sooner discharged," the said volunteers to receive, on being mustered into the service, one month's pay and a bounty of $25.

While patriotic men were thus encouraged to enlist in new regiments of militia and volunteers for the short term of nine months, the veteran regiments in the field were not wholly forgotten. For the purpose of filling their ranks the President was authorized "to accept the services of volunteers in such numbers as may be presented for that purpose for twelve months if not sooner discharged." These volunteers, who by association with veteran comrades would become the best of soldiers before the date of their discharge, were granted $50 bounty, a sum equal to half the bounty granted in 1861 to the patriot army which enlisted for three years.

The seventh section, for the speedy trial of minor offenses, substituted a field officer's court in place of the regimental and garrison courts-martial, the punishment inflicted by the sentence of a field officer not to exceed that inflicted by a regimental court-martial.

Although late in the day, the ninth and tenth sections authorized the creation of army corps, with a corps staff consisting of one assistant adjutant-general, one quartermaster, one commissary of subsistence, and one assistant inspector-general, each with the rank of lieutenantcolonel; the officers so assigned to be selected by the President from the regular or volunteer forces. Each corps commander was also allowed, on his own recommendation, three aids-de-camp, who also belonged to the corps staff-one with the rank of major, the other two captains the officers so recommended to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The tenth section also prescribed that the senior officer of artillery of each army corps should, in addition to his other duties, act as chief of artillery and ordnance at the headquarters of the corps," but it gave him no increased rank or command.

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The eleventh section prescribed that all cavalry forces in the service of the United States should be organized into regiments of twelve companies each. The twelfth section authorized the President to organize and receive into the service of the United States for the purpose of constructing entrenchments, or performing camp service, or any other labor, or any military or naval service for which they may be competent, persons of African descent," the persons so employed to receive, under the fifteenth section, one ration per day and ten dollars per month, three of which might be paid in clothing. Among the resolutions of Congress in 1862, one wisely prescribed: That whenever military operations may require the presence of two or more officers of the same grade in the same field or department, the President may assign the command of the forces in such field or department without regard to seniority

of rank.a

a Callan's Military Laws, p. 539.

June 21, another resolution, national in its bearing, restored the former premium of $2 to any citizen or soldier who should present an acceptable recruit at any rendezvous for the Regular Army.

It has already been stated as an important objection to the State system, that volunteer officers and soldiers might expose themselves and perform deeds of valor for their country, but could not receive the reward of promotion except through the governors of their States.

Another resolution of July 12, provided a reward for enlisted men of the army and volunteers in the shape of "medals of honor." The first part of the resolution read:

That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause two thousand "medals of honor" to be prepared, with suitable emblematic devices, and to direct that the same be presented, in the name of Congress, to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection."

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The sum of $10,000 was appropriated to carry the resolution into effect.

Save the one law authorizing the President to seize the railroads and telegraphs, the military legislation of 1862, as compared with that of 1861, shows little or no increase of wisdom. Congress had not yet discovered the value of military training. It exercised the power to support armies, but the power to raise them it conferred on the governors. To its mind the volunteer and State systems meant one and the same thing. The idea still prevailed that the Union could be saved by the voluntary service of its citizens. Patriotism, notwithstanding the lesson of Bull Run, was esteemed above discipline. There was no need of careful instruction. The war would soon be over; and strong in this delusion the views of Congress, more than a year after the fall of Fort Sumter, found expression in a law which, could the President have executed it, would again have intrusted the destiny of the nation to raw troops raised by the States for the brief periods of nine and twelve months.

TROOPS RAISED IN 1862.

Before taking the field in 1862, the Army of 1861, by disease, death, discharge, detached service, and desertion, had been reduced in effective strength to about one-half or two-thirds. Its recruitment, too, had been unfortunately stopped by the order of April 3, which nearly put an end to individual volunteering. The patriotic governors, who, through the system of State and General Hospitals, had been the blind instruments of promoting absenteeism and desertion, were the first to propose a call for more troops. In a joint letter dated the 28th of June, they wrote the President:

* * * We respectfully request, if it meets with your entire approval, that you at once call upon the several States for such number of men as may be required to fill up all military organizations now in the field, and add to the armies heretofore organized such additional number of men as may, in your judgment, be necessary to garrison and hold all of the numerous cities and military positions that have been captured by our armies. All believe that the decisive moment is near at hand, and to that end the people of the United States are desirous to aid promptly in furnishing all reenforcements that you may deem needful to sustain our Government, b

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a Callan's Military Laws, p. 540.

Report of the Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 103.