13 L 1 ] 



llrat the rig:hts of brevet rank shall he deemed to he valid, so far only as 

 ihey exist by positive grants of law, and no farther; adding that a de- 

 tachment is a body of troops sent from the main body to 'perform a par- 

 ticular service and to be absent for a limited time. We therefore submit 

 lor your consideration, and through you, for the consideration of the Con- 

 gress of the United States, the propriety and necessity of passing such a 

 dechiratory act. 



It will be perceived that this communication has thus far a special refer- 

 ence to the unlawful extension of the rights of brevet rank; but we desire 

 to add that, in reg;ii-d to the principles of the letter of the 17lh of No- 

 vember, on the su[)ject of the staff, we feel called upon to express our dis- 

 sent from the correctness of those principles. We have been accustomed 

 for many years to regard what is called rank, in the organization of the 

 (Quarter Master's department, as rank in that department, and so also the 

 rank of officers in the Commissary and other departments of the army, has 

 iteen regarded as rank in those departments respectively; and we are per- 

 suaded it was not designed bj Congress to authorize the officers of those 

 departments to exercise conunand in the line. The first encroachment l)y 

 which the officers of the Quartermaster's department, since its establish- 

 ment under present laws, began to consider themselvtvS possessed of the 

 right of command in the line, was in 1836, when an officer of that depart- 

 ment w^as assigned to the command in the Creek country and subsequently 

 in Florida. It was not until several weeks after the arrival of troops at 

 ihis place, that an order was received from the Major General command- 

 ing the army (see general order No. 44, 1845,) assigning several officers of 

 the Quartermaster's department to duty with the army of occupation, con- 

 taining a significant paragraph in the following words: "they will be obey- 

 ed and respected according to their rank in the army." This order on the 

 lace of it implies the promulgation of a new principle in regard to staff 

 officers, as if their rank in the army had not hitherto been j)roperly re- 

 spected. The principles of the letter of the 17tli November can leave no 

 doubt as to the origin and purpose of that clause in the order referred 1o. 

 'Che order that tlie officers of tlie Quartermaster's department are to be 

 "respected accortling to their rank in the army," is now by tlie letter ol' 

 the 17th of Novendier, to be understood as a command that they are to be 

 respected according to their rank in [the line of ] the army. The senior 

 officer of that department now w-ith us, a Colonel in the staff, might de- 

 clare that if his seniors in rank were to leave the iirmy of occupation, he 

 would assume the command, and this ])osition w^e have a right to suppose 

 would be sustained by the General-in-Chief, notwithstanding the 62(1 Arti- 

 cle of War, wdiich requires that the coramantling officer shall have a com- 

 mission "of tiie line." 



What then lias become of the distinction between the line and the staff 

 recognized in all our laws, those passed during the \\<\r and subsequently? 

 (see Cross' law^s, 1838.) It will be seen that where the legislation is for 

 the "army of the United States," the act of Congress is so defined as the 

 act .June 26, 1812,* in the 5th section of which the lines of artillery, light 

 artillery, dragoons, riflemen and infimtry are distinctly named. Someiimes 

 the legislation is for "an additional military force," as the act of January 

 D, 1813. Again, the legislation is for the " better organization of the 



• Vide, also sec. 12, act Mn — ' "^n. 1814. 



