ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



33 



5. That the Chief of Engineers stop work on all 

 field fortifications and other works, except those for 

 which specific appropriations have been made by 

 Congress for their completion, or that may be re- 

 quired for the proper protection of works in progress. 



6. That all soldiers in hospitals who require no 

 further medical treatment be honorably discharged 

 from service, with immediate payment. All officers 

 and unlisted men who have been prisoners of war and 

 are now on furlough or in parole camps, and all re- 

 cruits in rendezvous, except those for the Kegular 

 Army, will likewise be honorably discharged. Offi- 

 cers whose duty it is under the regulations to make 

 out rolls and other final papers connected with the 

 discharge and payment of soldiers, are directed to 

 make them out without delay, so that this order may 

 be carried into effect immediately. 



7. The Adjutant-General of the Army will cause 

 immediate returns to be made by all commanders in 

 the field, garrisons, detachments, and posts of their 

 respective forces, with a view to their immediate 

 reduction. 



8. Quartermasters of Subsistence, Engineers, and 

 Provost-Marshal Generals of departments will reduce 

 the number of their clerks and employes to that ab- 

 solutely required for closing the business of their 

 respective departments, and will without delay report 

 to the Secretary of War the number required of each 

 class or grade. The Surgeon-General will make simi- 

 lar reductions of surgeons, nurses, and attendants in 

 his bureau. 



9. The chiefs of the respective bureaus will im- 

 mediately cause proper returns to be made out of the 

 public property in their charge and statements of 

 property iu each that may be sold upon advertise- 

 ment and publication without prejudice to the service. 



10. The Commissary of Prisoners will make out 

 the name, residence, time and place of capture and 

 occupation of all prisoners of war who will take the 

 oath of allegiance to the United States, to the end 

 that such as are disposed to become good and loyal 

 citizens of the United States, and who are proper 

 subjects of Executive clemency, may be released 

 upon terms that the President shall deem fit and con- 

 sistent with the public safety. 



By order of the Secretary of War. 



W. A. NICHOLS, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

 Official : THOMAS W. VINCENT, A. A. G. 



In furtherance of this order, regulations were 

 prepared and promulgated for the muster out 

 and discharge of the volunteer troops in the ser- 

 vice. Accordingly rendezvous were established 

 in the field as well as in most of the States, at the 

 former of which all surplus property was taken 

 possession of by the staff officers of the respec- 

 tive supply departments, and the muster out 

 tolls and other discharge papers prepared under 

 the direction of the commissaries of musters 

 and their assistants. Corps and department 

 commanders were instructed to see that the 

 work was pushed with energy, using for that 

 end the division and brigade commanders and 

 their respective staff officers to superintend it. 

 As soon as a regiment or other organization 

 had its muster-out papers prepared, it was 

 placed en route to its State for payment and 

 final discharge. At the State rendezvous was 

 stationed the chief mustering officer of the State, 

 or one or more of his assistants, with paymas- 

 ters, quartermasters, commissaries of subsist- 

 ence, and ordnance officers, who were charged 

 with the payment and final discharge of the 

 troops ; their care while awaiting the same ; 

 the reception of the public property surren- 

 VOL. v. 3 A 



dered by them, and their transportation to their 

 homes after discharge. By these arrangements 

 the disbanding of the troops was conducted 

 with regularity and despatch, and order and 

 discipline were maintained during their pro- 

 gress to their respective States and after arrival 

 therein. The rapidity with which the work 

 was carried on will be apparent from the fol- 

 lowing statistics: 



Troops mastered out to August 7 640,506 



Do. do. August 22 719,833 



Do. do. September 14 741,107 



Do. do. October 15 785.205 



- Do. do. November 15 800,963 



From which it appears that during the quar- 

 ter succeeding the promulgation of general or- 

 ders No. 77, troops were disbanded at the rate 

 of nearly 300,000 a month, and that within six 

 months after the complete suspension of hostili- 

 ties four-fifths of the army had disappeared. Such 

 a speedy and quiet absorption of so large a body 

 of armed men into the industrial life of a nation, 

 with scarce a trace left behind of the influence 

 or evil effects of their recent calling, is proba- 

 bly unexampled in the history of the world. 

 A partial exception to this general disbanding 

 was made with respect to the colored troops, 

 of whom 85,024 remained in the service in No- 

 vember, 33,334 having been mustered out. 



Upon the discharge of troops the services of 

 a great number of staff, field, and other officers 

 were no longer required. Many of these at 

 once resigned, many were honorably mustered 

 out, and until the close of the year the Govern- 

 ment continued to rid itself of superfluous gen- 

 erals as occasion required. Those who held 

 commissions in the regular army as a general 

 rule resumed them, but many of these, not 

 caring to lapse into the condition of a subaltern 

 of regulars, after having been general officers 

 of volunteers, and dreading, too, the inertness 

 of military life in peaceful times, availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity to engage in civil p?o- 

 fessions or a- political career. "No doubt/' 

 says the Secretary of War in his annual report, 

 " in many instances it has been painful for gal- 

 lant and accomplished officers to leave that ser- 

 vice to which they have been accustomed, and 

 where they have won honorable distinction. 

 But it is to the credit of the volunteer service 

 that they have recognized the obligation of the 

 Government to reduce the military establish- 

 ment with the occasion that called it into ex- 

 istence, and that their own wishes or interest 

 have not been importunately urged against the 

 necessities of the service." In another part of 

 the same document, alluding to the rapidity 

 with which troops were raised during the war, 

 he says : " Our experience on this point is sig- 

 nificant. When Lee's army surrendered, thou- 

 sands of recruits were pouring in, and men were 

 discharged from recruiting stations and rendez- 

 vous in every State. On several occasions when 

 troops were promptly needed to avert impend- 

 ing disasters, vigorous exertion broiight them 

 into the field from remote States with incredi- 

 ble speed. Official reports show that after 



