Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

OTHER MILITARY OPERATIONS IN 1861.

The victories of Rich Mountain and Carricks Ford, which resulted early in July in the capture and dispersion of the enemy's forces in western Virginia, partly relieved the gloom and depression occasioned by the defeat at Bull Run, but these victories were soon obscured by fresh tidings of disaster.

August 20, General Lyon was killed and the Union forces defeated at Wilson's Creek, Missouri; September 20, Lexington, Mo., was surrendered, followed on the 21st of October by the disastrous repulse at Balls Bluff; November 7, occurred the bold but indecisive battle of Belmont, succeeded on the 20th of December by the victory of Drainesville.

The loss in killed and wounded" at Wilsons Creek was 949, at Lexington 150, at Balls Bluff 449, at Belmont 263, at Drainesville 68. It will be seen from the above figures that with the exception of Wilson's Creek those engagements scarcely rose above the dignity of a skirmish; nevertheless so conscious was the country of being unprepared for war, that in moral effect they were all invested with the importance of great battles.

În connection with the quality and paucity of troops placed at the disposition of the Union commanders, the trifling losses in the battles and skirmishes of 1861 possess for the statesman a special significance. They attested at the beginning of the war the utter weakness of a nation, which needed only time to develop its resources, to take a foremost rank among the great powers of the world.

a Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, vol. 1, pp. xxxvii-xl.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MILITARY POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE REBELLION (CONTINUED).

MILITARY LEGISLATION IN 1861.

The military system under which, in two campaigns of seven weeks each, Prussia humiliated Austria, in 1866, and subverted the French Empire in 1870, was the joint product of soldiers and statesmen, who began their laborers (in 1806) immediately after the disastrous battle of Jena. The military system under which we subdued the Rebellion was established by Congress in less than four weeks.

The energy and haste with which the new Congress set to work to repair the neglect of its predecessors, may be inferred from the number and character of the bills and the joint resolution introduced in the Senate on the 6th of July, two days after the opening of the session, which bills were as follows: A bill to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property; a bill to increase the present military establishment of the United States; a bill providing for the better organization of the military establishment; a bill for the organization of a volunteer militia force, to be called the National Guard of the United States; also a joint resolution to ratify and confirm certain acts of the President for the suppression of insurrection and rebellion."

In providing for the national defense, no false notions of economya political virtue paraded only in time of peace-were permitted to delay Congressional action. The first bill, in conformity with the recommendation of the President, proposed to authorize a force of 400,000 volunteers, and to appropriate $400,000,000, a sum greater than the total cost of the wars of the Revolution and 1812. Prodigal as these propositions may appear, the number of men was increased by 100,000 and the appropriation by $100,000,000. The bill as thus amended the appropriation was stricken out and reserved for separate consideration-passed the Senate on the 10th day of July, and was sent to the House. On the 11th it was recalled by resolution of the Senate, and after several important amendments was again sent to the House. On the 16th the bill with amendments passed the House. The Senate non-concurring, it was referred on the 17th to a committee of conference, passed both Houses on the 18th, and on the 22d received the President's signature.

The same day that the first bill to authorize the employment of half a million of men became a law, another bill was introduced in the Sen

248

a Frank Moore's Rebellion Record, vol. 10, p. 1, Doc. 1.

ate to remove all restriction upon the President, by permitting him to accept the services of volunteers in such numbers as the exigencies of the public service might require. On the 23d the bill passed the Senate with the proviso added to the first section, "That the number of troops hereby authorized should not exceed five hundred thousand.” The next day the bill passed the House without a division, and on the 25th was approved by the President. The second bill, which appears to have slipped through Congress amid the whirl and excitement produced by the defeat at Bull Run, was not intended to increase the total number of volunteers above 500,000, yet under an improvident system, it was afterwards construed to sanction the employment of more than a million.a

Pending the enactment of the above laws, the bill to increase the Regular Army also came up for discussion. The Senate satisfied itself with giving legal effect to the proclamation of the President of May 3; but in the House the proposed increase, feeble as it was, again raised the specter of a standing army.

It mattered not that without the previous sanction of Congress, a quarter of a million of men were already in the field. Such a breach of the Constitution was lost sight of, when compared with the danger of a few disciplined soldiers. To allay the specter, the House therefore voted that the eleven new regiments should be converted into a force of volunteers. This action was apparently based on the report submitted by Mr. Blair, who stated:

That the Military Committee of the House unanimously dissented from the recommendation of the Secretary of War; they did not consider that there was any occasion to increase the military establishment, but as something had been done to organize the new regiments, the committee had stripped the organization of that feature which alone made it repugnant to a free people-that of establishing a large standing army.b

On the 24th of July, the bill was referred to a committee of conference, when the House receded from its position on the condition that at the end of the war, the Army should be reduced to a number not exceeding 25,000 men.

The bill received the President's approval on the 29th of July. A clear comprehension of the many needless sacrifices imposed on the people in subduing the Rebellion, requires that the three acts of July 22, 25, and 29 be quoted entire.

Act of July 22:

Whereas certain of the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, navy-yards, and other property of the United States have been seized, and other violations of law have been committed, and are threatened by organized bodies of men in several of the States, and a conspiracy has been entered into to overthrow the Government of the United States: Therefore,

Resolved, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers, not exceeding five hundred thousand, as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, enforcing the law, and preserving and protecting the public property: Provided, That the services of the volunteers shall be for such time as the President may direct, not exceeding three years nor less than six months, and

a See Note 2, Callan's Military Laws of the United States, p. 472:

"I remember that the construction placed upon those acts by the President and Secretary of War, was that only 500,000 men should be called out under oath, and practically I think they were so treated by all the Departments. My attention was called to it, of course, in fixing the quota of this State." (Letter from Hon. Austin Blair, ex-Governor of Michigan, dated December 19, 1878.)

b Frank Moore's Rebellion Record, vol. 10, p. 7, Doc. 1.

they shall be disbanded at the end of the war. And all provisions of law applicable to three years' volunteers shall apply to two years' volunteers, and to all volunteers who have been or may be accepted into the service of the United States for a period not less than six months, in the same manner as if such volunteers were specially named. Before receiving into service any number of volunteers exceeding those now called and accepted, the President shall, from time to time, issue his proclamation stating the number desired, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, and the States from which they are to be furnished, having reference in any such requisition to the number then in service from the several States, and to the exigencies of the service at the time, and equalizing, as far as practicable, the number furnished by the several States, according to Federal population.

SEC. 2. That the said volunteers shall be subject to the rules and regulations governing the Army of the United States, and that they shall be formed by the President into regiments of infantry, with the exception of such numbers for cavalry and artillery as he may direct, not to exceed the proportion of one company of each of those arms to every regiment of infantry, and to be organized as in the regular service. Each regiment of infantry shall have one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, one adjutant (a lieutenant), one quartermaster (a lieutenant), one surgeon, and one assistant surgeon, one sergeant-major, one regimental quartermaster-sergeant, one regimental commissary-sergeant, one hospital steward, two principal musicians, and twenty-four musicians for a band, and shall be composed of ten companies, each company to consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, four sergeants, eight corporals, two musicians, one wagoner, and from sixty-four to eighty-two privates.

SEC. 3. That these ces when accepted as herein authorized shall be organized into divisions of three or tre brigades each; and each division shall have a majorgeneral, three aids-de-camp, one assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of major. Each brigade shall be composed of four or more regiments, and shall have one brigadier-general, two aids-de-camp, one assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, one surgeon, one assistant quartermaster, and one commissary of subsistence.

SEC. 4. That the President shall be authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the command of forces provided for in this act, a number of major-generals, not exceeding six, and a number of brigadier-generals, not exceeding eighteen, and other division and brigade officers, required for the organization of these forces, except the aids-de-camp, who shall be selected by their respective generals from the officers of the Army or volunteer corps: Provided, That the President may select the major-generals and brigadier-generals provided for in this act from the line or staff of the Regular Army, and the officers so selected shall be permitted to retain their rank therein. The governors of the States furnishing volunteers under this act shall commission the field, staff, and company officers requisite for the said volunteers; but in cases where the State authorities refuse or omit to furnish volunteers at the call or on the proclamation of the President, and volunteers from such States offer their services under such call or proclamation, the President shall have power to accept such services and to commission the proper field, staff, and company officers.

SEC. 5. That the officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates, organized as above set forth, shall in all respects be placed on the footing, as to pay and allowance, of similar corps of the Regular Army: Provided, That the allowances of noncommissioned officers and privates for clothing, when not furnished in kind, shall be paid three dollars and fifty cents per month, and that each company officer, noncommissioned officer, private, musician, and artificer of cavalry, shall furnish his own horse and horse equipments, and shall receive forty cents per day for their use and risk, except that in case the horse shall become disabled, or shall die, the allowance shall cease until the disability be removed or another horse be supplied. Every volunteer noncommissioned officer, private, musician, and artificer who enters the service of the United States under this act, shall be paid at the rate of fifty cents in lieu of subsistence, and if a cavalry volunteer, twenty-five cents additional in lieu of forage, for every twenty miles of travel from his place of enrollment to the place of muster, the distance to be measured by the shortest usually travelled route; and when honorably discharged an allowance at the same rate from the place of his discharge to his place of enrollment, and, in addition thereto, if he shall have served for a period of two years or during the war, if sooner ended, the sum of one hundred dollars: Provided, That such of the companies of cavalry herein provided for as may require it, may be furnished with horses and horse equipments in the same manner as in the United States Army.

SEC. 6. That any volunteer who may be received into the service of the United States under this act, and who may be wounded or otherwise disabled in the service,

shall be entitled to the benefits which have been or may be conferred on persons disabled in the regular service; and the widow, if there be one, and if not, the legal heirs of such as die or may be killed in service, in addition to all arrears of pay and allowances, shall receive the sum of one hundred dollars.

SEC. 7. That the bands of the regiments of infantry and of the regiments of cavalry shall be paid as follows: One-fourth of each shall receive the pay and allowances of sergeants of engineer soldiers, one-fourth those of corporals of engineer soldiers, and the remaining half those of privates of engineer soldiers of the first class, and the leaders of the band shall receive the same pay and emoluments as second lieutenants of infantry.

SEC. 8. That the wagoners and saddlers shall receive the pay and allowances of corporals of cavalry; the regimental commissary-sergeant shall receive the pay and allowances of regimental sergeant-major, and the regimental quartermaster-sergeant shall receive the pay and allowances of a sergeant of cavalry.

SEC. 9. That there shall be allowed to each regiment one chaplain, who shall be appointed by the regimental commander, on the vote of the field officers and company commanders on duty with the regiment at the time the appointment shall be made. The chaplain so appointed must be a regularly ordained minister of a Christian denomination, and shall receive the pay and allowances of a captain of cavalry, and shall be required to report to the colonel commanding the regiment to which he is attached, at the end of each quarter, the moral and religious condition of the regiment and such suggestions as may conduce to the social happiness and moral improvement of the troops.

SEC. 10. That the general commanding a separate department or a detatched army, is hereby authorized to appoint a military board or commission of not less than three nor more than five officers, whose duty it shall be to examine the capacity, qualifications, propriety of conduct and efficiency of any commissioned officer of volunteers, within his department or army, who may be reported to the board or commission, and upon such report, if adverse to such officer and if approved by the President of the United States, the commission of such officer shall be vacated: Provided always, That no officer shall be eligible to sit on such board or commission whose rank or promotion would in any way be affected by the proceedings, and two members at least, if practicable, shall be of equal rank of the officer being examined. And when vacancies occur in any of the companies of volunteers an election shall be called by the colonel of the regiment to fill such vacancies, and the men of each company shall vote in their respective companies for all officers as high as captain, and vacancies above captain shall be filled by the votes of the commissioned officers of the regiment, and all officers so elected shall be commissioned by the respective governors of the States, or by the President of the United States, a

SEC. 11. That all letters written by soldiers in the service of the United States may be transmitted through the mails without prepayment of postage, under such regulations as the Post-Office Department may prescribe, the postage thereon to be paid by the recipient.

SEC. 12. That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to introduce among the volunteer forces in the service of the United States the system of allotment now used in the Navy, or some equivalent system, by which the family of the volunteer may draw such portions of his pay as he may request.b

Act of July 25:

That the President of the United States be, and is hereby authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers as the exigencies of the public service may, in his opinion demand, to be organized, as authorized by the act of the 22d of July, 1861: Provided, That the number of troops hereby authorized shall not exceed five hundred thousand.

SEC. 2. That the volunteers authorized by this act shall be armed as the President may direct; they shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and shall be upon the footing, in all respects, with similar corps of the United States Army, and shall be mustered into the service for "during the war.

a The italics are the author's.-EDITORS.

Callan's Military Laws of the United States, pp. 466-471: The organization of regiments, brigades, and divisions under this law was identical with that submitted by Generals McDowell and Franklin to the Secretary of the Treasury, except that one surgeon was added to each regiment, and an extra aid-de-camp allowed to each major and brigadier-general.

In reference to the additional surgeon, the Medical Department justly complained that it had not been consulted as to the medical staff required for each regiment.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »