Continental Monthly , Vol. 6, No. 1, July December , 1864

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THE

CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:

DEVOTED TO

Literature and National Policy.

VOL. VI.--JULY-DECEMBER, 1864.--NO. I.

New York:

JOHN F. TROW, 50 GREENE STREET,

(FOR THE PROPRIETORS.)

1864.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

JOHN F. TROW,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.

JOHN F. TROW,
PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND ELECTROTYPER.
50 Greene street, New York.

* * * * *

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|Transcriber's note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All |
|other inconstencies in spelling or punctuation are as in the original.|
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AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS.

_SECOND PAPER._

Having, in the preceding paper, described the general organization[1] of
an army, we proceed to give a succinct account of some of the principal
staff departments, in their relations to the troops.

Army organization--notwithstanding the world has always been engaged in
military enterprises--is of comparatively recent institution. Many of
the principles of existing military systems date no farther back than to
Frederic the Great, of Prussia, and many were originated by Napoleon.
Staff departments, particularly, as now constituted, are of late origin.
The staff organization is undergoing constant changes. Its most improved
form is to be found in France and Prussia. Our own staff system is of a
composite, and, in some respects, heterogeneous character--not having
been, constructed on any regular plan, but built up by gradual
accretions and imitations of European features, from the time of our
Revolution till the present. It has, however, worked with great vigor
and efficiency.

The staff of any commander is usually spoken of in two classes--the
departmental and the personal--the latter including the aides-de-camp,
who pertain more particularly to the person of the commander, while the
former belong to the organization. Of the departmental staff, the
assistant adjutant-generals and assistant inspector-generals are
denominated the 'general staff,' because their functions extend through
all branches of the organization, while the other officers are confined
exclusively to their own departments.

The _chief of staff_ is a recent French imitation. The first officer
assigned in that capacity was General Marcy, on the staff of General
McClellan, in the fall of 1861. Previous to that time the officers of
the adjutant-general's department--on account of their intimate
relations with commanding officers, as their official organs and the
mediums through which all orders were transmitted--had occupied it. The
duties of these officers, however, being chiefly of a bureau character,
allowing them little opportunity for active external supervision, it has
been deemed necessary to select for heads of the staffs, officers
particularly qualified to assist the commander in devising strategical
plans, organizing, and moving troops, etc.; competent to oversee and
direct the proceedings of the various staff departments; untrammelled
with any exclusive routine of duty, and able in any emergency, when the
commander may be absent, to give necessary orders. For these reasons,
although the innovation has not been sanctioned by any law, or any
standing rule of the War Department, and although its propriety is
discussed by many, the custom of assigning officers as chiefs of staff
has become universal, and will probably be permanent. The extent and
character of their duties depend, however, upon themselves, being
regulated by no orders, and the high responsibilities attached to the
position in France have not thus far been assumed by the officers
occupying it here. In the French service, the chief of staff is the
actual as well as the nominal head of the organization; he supervises
all its operations; he is the _alter ego_ of the commander. In the
Waterloo campaign, for instance, Marshal Soult was the chief of
Napoleon's staff, and the emperor attributed his disaster, in part, to
some of the orders issued by the marshal.

Our limits will not permit a description of the duties pertaining to the
various members of the staff, but we pass to the consideration of those
departments, the operations of which most directly affect the soldier,
are indispensable to every army, and are most interesting to the public.

Let us first consider the _quartermaster's department_, which, from the
character and diversity of its duties, the amount of its expenditures,
and its influence upon military operations, may be ranked as among the
most important. This department provides clothing, camp and garrison
equipage, animals and transportation of all kinds, fuel, forage, straw,
and stationery, an immense variety of the miscellaneous materials
required by an army, and for a vast amount of miscellaneous
expenditures. It is, in fact, the great business operator of a military
organization. In an active army, the success of movements depends very
much on its efficiency. Unless the troops are kept properly clothed, the
animals and means of transportation maintained in good condition, and
the immense trains moved with regularity and promptness, the best
contrived plans will fail in their development and execution.

The department, at the commencement of the war, had supplies in store
only for the current uses of the regular army. When the volunteer forces
were organized it became necessary to make hasty contracts and purchases
to a large amount; but as even the best-informed members of the
Government had no adequate prevision of the extent and duration of the
war, and of the necessary arrangements for its demands, a considerable
period elapsed before a sufficient quantity of the required materials
could be accumulated. Those were the days of 'shoddy' cloth and spavined
horses. The department, however, exhibited great administrative energy,
under the direction of its able head, General M. C. Meigs, and has amply
provided for the enormous demands upon it.

Depots for the reception of supplies are established in the large
cities, whence they are transferred as required to the great issuing
depots near the active armies, and from them to the depots in the field.
Thus, the main depots of the Army of the Potomac are at Washington and
Alexandria--a field depot being established at its centre, when lying
for any length of time in camp. Only current supplies are kept on hand
at the latter, and no surplus is transported on the march, except the
required amounts of subsistence and forage.

A great deal is said in connection with military movements, of 'bases of
operation.' These are the points in the rear of an army from which it
receives supplies and reenforcements, and with which its communications
must at all hazards be kept open, except it has means of transportation
sufficient to render it independent of its depots for a considerable
period, or unless the country traversed is able to afford subsistence
for men and animals. When an army marches along a navigable river, its
secondary base becomes movable, and it is less confined to the necessity
of protecting its rear. In Virginia, however, the connection of the Army
of the Potomac with Washington is imperative, and this fact explains the
contracted sphere of the operations of that army.

The transportation of supplies is limited by the ability of the
Government to provide trains, and by the ability of the army to protect
them; for large trains create large drafts on the troops for teamsters,
pioneers, guards, etc. An army train, upon the most limited allowance
compatible with freedom of operations for a few days, away from the
depots, is an immense affair. Under the existing allowances in the Army
of the Potomac, a corps of thirty thousand infantry has about seven
hundred wagons, drawn by four thousand two hundred mules; the horses of
officers and of the artillery will bring the number of animals to be
provided for up to about seven thousand. On the march it is calculated
that each wagon will occupy about eighty feet--in bad roads much more;
consequently a train of seven hundred wagons will cover fifty-six
thousand feet of road--or over ten miles; the ambulances of a corps will
occupy about a mile, and the batteries about three miles; thirty
thousand troops need six miles to march in, if they form but one column;
the total length of the marching column of a corps is therefore _twenty
miles_, even without including the cattle herds and trains of bridge
material. Readers who have been accustomed to think that our armies have
not exhibited sufficient energy in surmounting the obstacles of bad
roads, unbridged streams, etc., will be able to estimate, upon the above
statements, the immense difficulty of moving trains and artillery. The
trains of an army have been properly denominated its _impedimenta_, and
their movement and protection is one of the most difficult incidental
operations of warfare--particularly in a country like Virginia, where
the art of road making has attained no high degree of perfection, and
where the forests swarm with guerillas.

To an unaccustomed observer the concourse of the trains of an army, in
connection with any rapid movement, would give the idea of inextricable
confusion. It is of course necessary to move them upon as many different
roads as possible, but it will frequently happen that they must be
concentrated in a small space, and move in a small number of columns.
During the celebrated 'change of base' from Richmond to Harrison's
Landing, the trains were at first obliged to move upon only one
road--across White Oak Swamp--which happened fortunately to be wide
enough for three wagons to go abreast. There were perhaps twenty-five
hundred vehicles, which would make a continuous line of some forty or
fifty miles. While the slow and toilsome course of this cumbrous column
was proceeding, the troops were obliged to remain in the rear and fight
the battles of Savage Station and White Oak Swamp for its protection. A
similar situation of trains occurred last fall when General Meade
retired from the Rappahannock, but fortunately the country presented
several practicable routes. It is on a retreat, particularly, that the
difficulty of moving trains is experienced, and thousands of lives and
much valuable material have been lost by the neglect of commanding
officers to place them sufficiently far in the rear during a battle, so
as to permit the troops to fall back when necessary, without
interruption.

A march being ordered, supplies according to the capacity of the trains,
are directed to be carried. The present capacity of the trams of the
Army of the Potomac is ten days' subsistence and forage, and sixty
rounds of small-arm ammunition--the men carrying in addition a number of
days' rations, and a number of rounds, upon their persons. When the
wagons reach camp each evening, such supplies as have been expended are
replenished from them. As a general rule the baggage wagons camp every
night with the troops, but the exigencies are sometimes such that
officers are compelled to deny themselves for one or even two weeks the
luxury of a change of clothing--the wagons not reaching camp, perhaps,
till after midnight, and the troops resuming their march an hour or two
afterward. Those who indulge in satires upon the wearers of shoulder
straps would be likely to form a more correct judgment of an officer's
position and its attendant hardships, could they see him at the close of
a fortnight's campaign. Like the soldier, he can rely on nothing for
food or clothing except what is carried by himself, unless he maintains
a servant, and the latter will find a few blankets, a coffee pot, some
crackers, meat, sugar, coffee, etc., for his own and his employer's
consumption, a sufficient burden.

Let us see how the supplies of the quartermaster's department are
distributed.

At stated periods, if circumstances permit--usually at the first of each
month--the regimental quartermasters, after consultation with the
company officers, forward through their superiors to the chief
quartermasters of corps, statements of the articles required by the men.
These are consolidated and presented to the chief quartermaster of the
army, who orders them from Washington, and issues them from the army
depot--the whole operation requiring about a week. The number of
different _kinds_ of articles thus drawn monthly is about five hundred;
the _quantity_ of each kind depends on the number of men to be supplied,
and the nature of the service performed since the previous issue. If
there has been much marching, there will be a great demand for shoes; if
a battle, large quantities of all kinds of articles to replace those
lost on the battle field will be required.

An infantry soldier is allowed the following principal articles of
clothing during a three years' term of service:

1st Year. 2d Year. 3d Year.
Cap, 1 1 1
Coat, 2 1 2
Trowsers, 3 2 3
Flannel shirt, 3 3 3
Drawers, 3 2 2
Shoes, 4 4 4
Stockings, 4 4 4
Overcoat, 1 0 0
Blanket, 1 0 1
Indiarubber blanket, 1 1 1

The prices of these are stated each year in a circular from the
department, and, as the soldier draws them, his captain charges him with
the prices on the company books. The paymaster deducts from his pay any
excess which he may have drawn, or allows him if he has drawn less than
he is entitled to. The clothing is much cheaper than articles of the
same quality at home. Thus, according to the present prices, a coat
costs $7.30; overcoat, $7.50; trowsers, $2.70; flannel shirt, $1.53;
stockings, 32 cents; shoes, $2.05.

The _commissary department_ provides exclusively the subsistence of the
troops. Each soldier is entitled to the following daily ration:

Twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces of fresh
beef.

One pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one pound of hard
bread, or one pound four ounces of corn meal.

To every one hundred men, fifteen pounds of beans or peas, and ten
pounds of rice or hominy.

To every one hundred men, ten pounds of green coffee, or eight
pounds of roasted, or one pound and eight ounces of tea.

To every one hundred men, fifteen pounds of sugar, four quarts of
vinegar, one pound four ounces of candles, four pounds of soap,
three pounds twelve ounces of salt, four ounces of pepper, thirty
pounds of potatoes, when practicable, and one quart of molasses.

Fresh onions, beets, carrots, and turnips, when on hand, can be
issued in place of beans, peas, rice, or hominy, if the men desire.

They can also take in place of any part of the ration an amount
equal in value of dried apples, dried peaches, pickles, etc., when
on hand.

A whiskey ration of a gill per day per man can be issued on the order of
the commander, in cases of extra hardship. It is, however, rarely
issued, on account of the difficulty of finding room for its
transportation in any considerable quantities. Moreover, whiskey, in the
army, is subject to extraordinary and mysterious _leakages_, and an
issue can scarcely be made with such care that some drunkenness will not
ensue. When lying in camp, sutlers and others sell to the soldiers
contrary to law, so that old topers usually find methods of gratifying
their appetites--sometimes sacrificing a large proportion of their pay
to the villains who pander to them. The utmost vigilance of the officers
fails to detect the methods by which liquor is introduced into the army.
When a cask is broached in any secluded place, the intelligence seems
communicated by a pervading electrical current, and the men are seized
with a universal desire to leave camp for the purpose of washing, or
getting wood, or taking a walk, or other praise-worthy purposes.

The total weight of a ration is something over two pounds, but in
marching, some articles are omitted, and but a small quantity of salt
meat is carried--fresh beef being supplied from the herds of cattle
driven with the army. A bullock will afford about four hundred and fifty
rations, so that an army of one hundred thousand men needs over two
hundred cattle daily for its supply.

In camp the men can refrain from drawing portions of their rations, and
the surplus is allowed for by the commissaries in money, by which a
company fund can be created, and expended in the purchase of gloves,
gaiters, etc., or luxuries for the table. A hospital fund is formed in
the same way--by an allowance for the portions of the rations not
consumed by the patients--and is expended in articles adapted to diet
for the sick. The rations are ample and of good quality, though the salt
meat is rather tough occasionally, and the consistency of the hard bread
is shot-proof. Company cooks are allowed, and in camp they contrive to
furnish quite appetizing meals. Their position is rather difficult to
fill, and woe is the portion of the cook not competent for his
profession. The practical annoyances to which he is subject make him
realize to the fullest extent 'the unfathomable depths of human woe.' On
the march the men usually prefer to boil their coffee in tin cups, and
to cook their meat on ram-rods--without waiting for the more formal
movements of the cooks. To reach camp before sunset, after a twenty-mile
march, to pitch his little shelter tent, throw in it his heavy arms and
accoutrements, collect some pine twigs for a couch, wash in some
adjacent stream, drink his cup of hot, strong coffee, eat his salt pork
and hard bread, and then wrap himself in his blanket for a dreamless
slumber, is one of the most delicious combinations of luxurious
enjoyment a soldier knows. To-morrow, perhaps, he starts up at the early
_reveille_, takes his hasty breakfast, is marshalled into line before
the enemy, there is a shriek in the air rent by the murderous shell, and
the soldier's last march is ended.

The next department we shall consider is that of _ordnance_, which
supplies the munitions and portions of accoutrements.

The subject of _artillery_ is perhaps the most interesting of the great
number connected with warfare. In the popular estimation it overshadows
all others. All the poetry of war celebrates the grandeur of

'Those mortal engines whose rude throats
The immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit.'

The thunder of great guns and the dashing of cavalry are the incidents
which spontaneously present themselves to the mind when a battle is
mentioned. Perhaps the accounts of Waterloo are responsible for this.
The steady fighting of masses of infantry, having less particulars to
attract the imagination, is overlooked; the fact, preeminent above all
others in military science, that it is the infantry which contests and
decides battles, that artillery and cavalry are only subordinate
agencies--is forgotten. So splendid have been the inventions and
achievements of the last few years in respect to artillery, as
illustrated particularly at Charleston, that some excuse may easily be
found for the popular misconception. A few remarks presenting some
truths relative to the appropriate sphere of artillery and its powers,
and stating succinctly the results which have been accomplished, may be
found interesting.

Without entering into the history of artillery, it will be sufficient to
state that the peculiar distinguishing excellence of modern improvements
in cannon is the attainment of superior efficiency, accuracy, and
mobility, with a decrease in weight of metal. A gun of any given size is
now many times superior to one of the same size in use fifty or a
hundred years ago. It is not so much in _big guns_ that we excel our
predecessors--for there are many specimens of old cannon of great
dimensions; but by our advance in science we are able so to shape our
guns and our projectiles that with less weight of material we can throw
larger shot to a greater distance and with more accuracy. A long course
of mathematical experiment and calculation has determined the exact
pressure of a charge of powder at all points in the bore of a cannon
during its combustion and evolution into gas. These experiments have
proved that strength is principally required near the breech, and that a
cannon need not be of so great length as was formerly supposed to be
necessary. We are thus able to construct guns which can be handled,
throwing balls of several hundred pounds' weight. Another splendid
result of scientific investigation is the method adopted for casting
such monster guns. In order that the mass of metal may be of uniform
tenacity and character, it should cool equably. This has been secured by
a plan for introducing a stream of water through the core of the
casting, so that the metal cools both within and without simultaneously.

About the time that the Italian war commenced, the subject of rifled
cannon excited much popular interest. Exaggerated expectations were
formed of the changes to be produced by them in the art of warfare. Many
saw in them the means of abolishing war entirely. Of what use is it,
they said, to array armies against each other, if they can be destroyed
at two or three miles' distance? At the commencement of our own contest
there was an undue partiality for rifled ordnance. Almost every
commander of a battery desired to have rifled guns. The more correct
views of the thoroughly accomplished artillery officers to whom was
confided the arrangement of this branch of the service, and actual
experience, have dissipated the unfounded estimate of their utility for
field service, and established the proper proportions in an artillery
force which they should compose. It has been ascertained that fighting
will never be confined to long ranges--that guns which can throw large
volumes of spherical case and canister into lines only a few hundred
yards distant are as necessary as ever.

The necessity for rifled cannon arose from the perfection of rifled
muskets. When these arms reached such a degree of excellence that horses
and gunners could be shot down at a distance of one thousand yards, the
old-fashioned smooth-bore artillery was deprived of its prestige. To
retrieve this disadvantage and restore the superiority of artillery over
musketry in length of range, methods of rifling cannon for field service
became an important study. For assailing distant lines of troops, for
opening a battle, for dispersing bodies of cavalry, for shelling
intrenchments, for firing over troops from hills in their rear, rifled
guns are of invaluable service. But, notwithstanding troops are now
universally armed with muskets of long range, no battle of importance is
fought without close engagements of the lines. The alternate advances
and retreats of the infantry, firing at distances of less than one
hundred yards, charging with fixed bayonets and frantic shouts, will
always characterize any battle fought with vigor and enthusiasm. In such
conflicts, wide-mouthed smooth bores, belching their torrents of iron,
must play a conspicuous part.

Another fact, which will perhaps surprise the general reader, is that
the form and character of _projectiles_ have been matters of as much
difficulty, have received as much investigation, and are of as much
importance, as the shape and character of the guns. In fact, rifled
pieces would be comparatively ineffective except projectiles adapted to
them had been invented. It was necessary that projectiles of greater
weight, of less resistance to the atmosphere, and of more accuracy of
flight, than the old round shot, should be introduced. To accomplish
these ends several things were necessary: 1st, the projectiles should be
elongated; 2d, they should have conical points; 3d, the centre of
gravity should be at a proper distance in front of the centre; 4th,
there should be methods of _steering_ them so that they should always go
point foremost through the whole curve of their flight; 5th, they should
fit the gun so as to take the rifles, yet not so closely as to strain
it. To attain these and other requisites, innumerable plans have been
devised. The projectile offering the best normal conditions is the
_arrow_; it has length, a sharp point, centre of gravity near the head,
and feathers for guiding it (sometimes so arranged that it shall rotate
like a rifled ball). Improved projectiles, therefore, both for muskets
and cannon, correspond in these essentials to the first products of man
in the savage state.

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