19 [ t ] 



tluMTforc wliat it may, the Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels of" (lie (juar- 

 leruiaster's department are absolutely, and without ()ualilication, scparatid 

 from it, for this is the very language of the law itself. And furthei', witli 

 respeet to their rank, as if to guard against the possibility of miseonstiue- 

 tion, the Colonels of the department are deelared by the 9th section above 

 (|Uoted to have, not the rank, pay and emoluments of Colonels of (h'agoons, 

 but to have the rank of Colonel, (in the (|aartermaster's (h'partment of 

 course,) and in another part of the section it is jMoviih-d that they shall 

 have the pay and emoluments of officers of similar rank in the icgiments 

 of dragoons ; thus with the most pointed care, sejiarating the rank from 

 the pay of the (h-agoons, and it is the same with the Lieutenant Colonels 

 of the departnient. 



On no pretence whatever, therefore, can these officers of the qnarter- 

 master's department !)e assigned to command in the line by a "connnoii 

 senior," as General Scott supposes, and still less in the absence of a senior, 

 can these officers decide themselves whether they may or may not, " with- 

 out ])rejudice to staff duties and the rights of others," assume the " com- 

 mand of troops" for this question is decided absolutely, by the ():2d Article 

 of War, against them, 



CoKPLis Christi, December 12, 184o, 



JPPEJYDIX A, 



MAJOR GENERAL SCOTt's LETTER ON BREVET AND STAFF RANK. 



Head Quarters of the Armv, 



Jldjutant GeneraVs Office, 



Washington, November 17, 1845. 



Brevet Brigadier General Taylor, 



Sir : — In reference to your letter of the 10th October, 184o, on the 

 subject of brevet rank, I am directed by the General-in-Chief to say, that 

 he promptly laid it before the Secretary of War for the consideration of 

 the highest in authority. In the meantime, and by the desire of the Sec- 

 retary of War, (he not having leisure at this time fally to examine the 

 (|uestion himself,) the General-in-Chief gives the following as his own gen- 

 eral answers to the queries you have presented : — 



"Paragraphs 11,14,15 and 16, in the "General Regidations for the 

 Army," are all, more or less, repugnant to the law of the land, and there- 

 fore to that extent, null and void. See the Gist and 6:2(1 of the Rules and 

 Articles of War, and also, 'the custom of war in like cases' — a rule of 

 construction given by Congress in the 69th of the same articles. 



"But it is farther held, that the repugnant paragraphs in question, were 

 subsequently rescinded by the heading; to the General List in each annual 

 official Army Register since 1841. See that of the present year, page 28. 

 That headin.(r first inserted in the Register of 1842, was the well consi- 

 dered act of the Executive. By it, and the General List, the rank^ pre- 

 cedence and command of every commissioned officer in tlie army down to 

 captains inclusive, 'whether by brevet, former commissions, or otherwise,' 

 will be found to have been settled, annually, since li^41. 



"Any military rank (giving the command of troops) which enables an 



