THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. LETTER FROM GEN. SCOTT, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. (Printed with the President's message, December 24th, 1849.) HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, New York, November 3, 1849. S Sir,-As the usual period is at hand for the annual report, by the war Department, on the state of the army, I suppose it to be due from my position, though not prescribed by regulations, that I should offer such professional suggestions as may seem worthy of attention in the preparation of that report. Considering the present distribution and employment of the army, it would be quite a misnomer to call it a peace establishment. About four-fifths of the regiments or companies are under threats of hostilities, in a state of constant activity, or alert on our Indian borders, in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, and between the basin of the Mississippi and the Rocky mountains, including the long lines of emigration across those mountains, and in the removal of the Menomonies from Wisconsin. The small number of remaining companies furnish most inadequate peace garrisons to a few only of the many fortifications, of great cost and importance, along the British North American, the Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico frontiers. Whilst, by acquisitions of territory, the exterior line of the United States has, since 1844, been extended rather less than one thousand miles, the interior or Indian lines to be guarded, consequent on new settlements and the continued streams of emigration to the West, have been increased at least ten thousand miles. On a careful examination, this estimate will not be found. extravagant. Our troops, accordingly, have already been carried, or soon must be carried, into near proximity, and with danger of conflict at every point, to five times the former number of warlike Indians who were our close neighbours. Add the treaty obligation to protect the republic of Mexico from the savage tribes within our limits, and some idea may be formed of the increase of active duty thrown upon the existing military establishment, including regiments, generals, and general staff officers. For this immense excess of duty over that of any other period of peace known in our history, we have only fifteen regiments, with six hundred and fifty-one enlisted men belonging to the engineer and ordnance departments, presenting a nominal total VOL. 4. R of 9438 non-commissioned officers, musicians, artificers, and privates, or less than the total of the peace establishment of 1815 by 2499.-See the last Army Register (January 1, 1849,) p. 38, and American State Papers (Military Affairs), vol. 2, p. 46. The total of the present establishment, like that of 1815, can be considered only as nominal, except as fixing a maximum not to be exceeded; but place the maximum total at any given point, and the numbers actually enrolled and in pay under the establishment will always be from a fourth to a third less. Thus, under the total of 1815, 11,937 enlisted men, the average number on the rolls, or receiving pay for five years, was but 8146. (See table, p. 38, in the volume of State Papers cited above.) And I have no doubt the deficiency, under the present establishment, 9438 enlisted men, is proportionally yet greater. This may easily be ascertained by means of the rolls in the adjutant general's and paymaster general's offices at Washington. Whence this striking difference between the authorized and the actual numbers receiving pay at any given time? It arises from 1st. The absolute necessity of never exceeding, by recruiting, the total fixed by law; and, 2nd. The unavoidable delays in receiving at Washington returns of deaths, discharges, and desertions, occurring at distant posts and on distant routes, by which casualties the recruiting service is regulated. As distances increase, and particularly over routes barely practicable, so will be the increased delays and the falling off from the maximum total allowed by law. Assuming, then, with confidence, that of the present authorized total, 9438 non-commissioned officers, musicians, artificers, and privates, there are actually not more than 7000 in service and receiving pay, including the sick and the few who are always on short leaves of absence, it is evident that the army is now greatly below the pressing wants of the country. In other words, to meet those wants, I am fully persuaded, on the experience of the last twelvemonth, that the total of enlisted men ought to be nearly doubled, independent of any danger, near or remote, of aggression from abroad. The desired augmentation may be obtained, either wholly by new regiments, or the addition of privates to companies throughout the present regiments. Either plan, by itself, would be liable to serious objections. By doubling the present skeleton regiments, we should have some 500 regimental officers, and 1516 noncommissioned officers, musicians, and artificers more than are deemed absolutely necessary; and by extending the number of privates per company much beyond 80, companies would be rendered unwieldy, besides making it necessary to add to each a lieutenant and several non-commissioned officers, for the command, the care, and instruction of so many men. I submit, therefore, a combination of the two plans, of which the following are the details: Extend the number of privates in every company of the present 15 regiments to 84. The number now limited is 42 in the artillery and infantry companies, 50 in the dragoons, and 64 in the mounted riflemen. (See Army Register, p. 28.) Those regiments would then stand: Two regiments, or 20 companies of dragoons, pre sent total, Add 34 privates to each company, Totals. 1,230 680 1,910 One regiment, or 10 companies of mounted riflemen, present total, 765 Add 20 privates to each company, 200 965 Add 42 privates to each company, Four regiments, or 48 companies of artillery, present total, 2,600 Eight regiments, or 80 companies of infantry, pre 15,774 965 Deduct the total (9438) of the present establishment, and we should have an augmentation of 6336 privates, without the addition of one officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or artificer. Add a second regiment of mounted riflemen, organized as above, Add a ninth regiment of infantry, organized as above, Add two companies of artillery to the present 48, and organize the 50 into 5 regiments, instead of 4, one for the the Pacific coast. The two companies organized as above would give a total of, 2 Add the non-commissioned staff of the 5th artillery, 60 Add a like detachment for the general recruiting depot in the harbour of New York, Grand total, 60 18,007 The detachments permanently on duty at those posts have heretofore been deducted from the feeble totals of regiments. Thus Congress might nearly double the present grand total (9438) of the army with an addition of only 81 commissioned officers. These would be 3 colonels, 3 lieutenant colonels, 6 majors, 22 captains, 25 first lieutenants, and 22 second lieutenants. (See, again, tables, p. 38, Army Register.) A nominal total of 18,000 enlisted men, deducting between a fourth and a third for unsupplied deaths, discharges, and desertions, as explained above, would give a yearly average on the pay rolls of about 13,000. Deduct another thousand for recruits, at depots and in transition, and we should not have permanently, with regiments or companies, more than 12,000; and from this number we would again, to find the effective strength at any given time, have to deduct the sick, the convicts, prisoners for trial, and about one in a hundred on short leaves of absence. Considering the many sickly lines and posts, occupied and to be occupied, it is not extravagant to say that we should in no year, under the proposed maximum, have an average of more than 55 non-commissioned officers, musicians, artificers, and privates, per company, or a grand total of 10,000, "present and fit for duty," for a prodigious amount of service, and covering an area equal (less about an eighth) to the entire continent of Europe. In foreign armies, the regiment or battalion is the unit, but very rarely broken into detachments. With us, on the other hand, many of our smaller posts, in time of peace, have been, and must continue to be, occupied by single companies. Hence, in the United States, the company is generally the unit; and this, from its smallness, even with a total of sixty men "present and fit for duty," is practically indivisible for more than momentary detachments. Confident that the foregoing calculations and estimates are without any material error, I hope the proposed augmentation may be substantially recommenced by the war department. There is one other topic I take the liberty to present in this volunteer communication, one in which the entire army feels a lively interest, and which we all hope may again win the support of the department. The following extract from my annual report, addressed to the secretary of war, November 20, 1845, presents, in a short compass, the subject in question: "I venture once more respectfully to invite attention to a retreat or asylum for the worn out or decayed rank and file of the army. The subject has been twice reported upon favourably, with bills, by committees on military affairs in the house of representatives. (See report, No. 74, 2d session 26th Congress, and report No. 109, 2d session 28th Congress.) If the want can only be placed fully before Congress, it seems impossible to doubt success, as the asylum would impose no burthen on the treasury, but be supported from the army itself, in deductions, fines, and reversions." For the merits and details of the proposed asylum, I beg that the documents referred to in the extract may be carefully examined. I cannot possibly conceive a valid objection to either. While the army under my command lay at Puebla, a part of the summer of 1847, an humble petition to Congress in favour of an asylum on the same plan for the benefit of enlisted men was drawn up and signed by, I believe, every commissioned officer then present. I presume it was presented; and if so, it may no doubt be found in the archives of one or both houses of Congress. In connection with that petition, I beg to add the following facts: On the capture of the city of Mexico, by the same army, I levied a contribution upon the inhabitants of $150,000, in lieu of pillage, to which the city, by the usages of war, was, under the circumstances, liable. In my orders on the subject I said: "Of the whole contribution to be paid over to the army $20,000 shall be appropriated to the purchase of extra comforts for the wounded and sick in hospital; $90,000 to the purchase of blankets and shoes for gratuitous distribution among the rank and file of the army; and $40,000 reserved for other necessary military purposes." (See in the adjutant general office, at Washington, a printed copy of that general order, No. 287, dated September 17, 1847.) I also copy here, as intimately connected with the same subject, my letter to the secretary of war, dated at Mexico, February 6, 1848. In that letter I said: "I have not reported on the subject of secret disbursements since I left Jalapa-1st, because of the uncertainty of our communications with Vera Cruz; and, 2d, the necessity of certain explanations which, on account of others, ought never to be reduced to writing. I may, however, briefly add that I have never tempted the honour, conscience, or patriotism of any man, but have held it lawful in morals, as in war, to purchase valuable information or services voluntarily tendered me. R* |