34 



AEMY, UNITED STATES. 



purposes of study and scientific instruction, 

 into four classes, and organized, for military 

 instruction, duty, and discipline, into a bat- 

 talion officered from among themselves. The 

 reputation of the school was never better than 

 at present, and it is sending out about 50 offi- 

 cers each year, well trained and disciplined, 

 and usually equal to the duties which they are 

 called upon to perform after graduating. 



The appropriations of money for the military 

 service of the country for the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1870, amounted to $37,538,852.08; 

 those for the year ending June 30, 1871, were 

 $30,249,148.97. The expenses for the latter 

 year, however, amounted to $32,902,349.97, or 

 $4,636,503.11 less than for the preceding 

 twelve months. The estimates on which the 

 appropriations for the year 1871-'72 are to be 

 based require $29,383,998. 



But little progress has been made by the 

 railway companies in settling the debts con- 

 tracted by them at the close of the war by the 

 purchase of the material of the military rail- 

 roads. The total debt remaining due and un- 

 paid on June 30, 1870, was $6,912,106.97, 

 principally owing from Southwestern compa- 

 nies. Their payments during the year amounted 

 to the sum of $365,820.45, but owing to the 

 amount of interest the entire reduction was 

 only $58,128.04. Action by Congress for their 

 relief has been sought by some of the roads, 

 while suits have in some bases been instituted 

 against those defaulting. 



Since the commencement of the present 

 fiscal year (1870-'71) there has been realized, 

 from sales of surplus arms and ordnance to 

 citizens of the United States, the sum of $5,- 

 600,000. More than 1,340,000 stands of arms 

 of obsolete pattern, and unfit for issue, have 

 been sold since the close of the war, and it is 

 the intention of the Government to continue 

 the sales as opportunity offers. 



The military property of the United States 

 at Harper's Ferry was sold in November and 

 December, 1869, in accordance with the terms 

 prescribed by law. The Secretary of "War, in 

 his last report, recommended that Rome Ar- 

 senal, New York, Champlain Arsenal, Ver- 

 mont, Mount Vernon Arsenal, Alabama, Ap- 

 palachicola Arsenal, Florida, and North Caro- 

 lina Arsenal, North Carolina, be sold, and that 

 the captured lands in Shreveport, Louisiana, 

 and Marshal and Jefferson, Texas, and in 

 Marion and Davis Counties, Texas, be also dis- 

 posed of. There are many other arsenals 

 throughout the country, which, in the opinion 

 of the Secretary, should be sold, and the pro- 

 ceeds used, if necessary, for the erection of a 

 principal arsenal for the Atlantic coast. Rock 

 Island Arsenal, Illinois, has been established as 

 the principal arsenal for the valley of the 

 Mississippi. An arsenal of like character in 

 the East, he thinks, could be erected from the 

 proceeds of the sales of useless arsenals, with- 

 out any appropriation of funds from the public 

 Treasury. 



Various surveys for military defences and 

 internal improvements have been carried on 

 during the year under the direction of the "War 

 Department, but no reports of completed work 

 have been submitted. River and harbor sur- 

 veys have progressed satisfactorily, and opera- 

 tions on the lakes have been carried on 

 throughout the year. These will furnish ma- 

 terial for the construction of charts and maps 

 of great value in a commercial as well as a 

 military point of view. Among the internal 

 improvements under consideration or in prog- 

 ress, are a bridge over the "Willamette River 

 at Portland, Oregon, a bridge across the 

 Niagara River, from Buffalo to Canada, a 

 bridge across the Arkansas River at Little 

 Rock, the construction of a canal from Green 

 Bay, Wisconsin, to the Mississippi River, the 

 improvement of navigation from Lake Michi- 

 gan to the Mississippi, by way of the "Wisconsin 

 and Fox Rivers, and various other works for 

 completing and improving water communica- 

 tions in different parts of the country. The 

 labor of the War Department in connection 

 with these consists mainly in making surveys 

 and examinations, and submitting reports to 

 Congress. 



Among the new tasks imposed upon the 

 army, in these times of peace, by the last Con- 

 gress, was that of observing the weather at 

 different points in the country, and making 

 reports by telegraph " for the benefit of com- 

 merce." (See METEOEOLOGT.) 



The only active military operations in which 

 the army has been employed during the year 

 have consisted of a few attempts to repress or 

 punish the depredations and outrages of the 

 Indians on some portions of the Western bor- 

 der. A band of the Blackfeet tribe, known as 

 the Piegans, roaming about in the Territory of 

 Montana, in the fall of 1869, were guilty of 

 many lawless attacks upon the property of the 

 white settlers, and an appeal was made to the 

 military commander for protection. General 

 Sheridan sent a detachment under Brevet 

 Colonel E. M. Baker, to punish the marau- 

 ders. They came up with the Indian camp 

 on the Marias River, on the 23d of Janu- 

 ary, and, without parley, a furious attack was 

 made upon it, killing 173 persons, many of 

 whom, it has been alleged, were women and 

 children. The following is General Sheridan's 

 report of this affair : 



General Orders, No. 1. 



HEADQ'KS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, ) 

 CHICAGO, March 12, 18VO. C 



The Lieutenant-General commanding this military 

 division takes great pleasure in announcing to the 

 command the complete success of the 2d cavalry and 

 13th infantry, under command of Brevet Colonel 

 Baker, of the 2d cavalry, against a band of Piegan 

 Indians, whose proximity to the British line lias 

 furnished them an easy and safe protection against 

 attack, and who have hitherto murdered and stolen 

 with comparative impunity, in defiance and contempt 

 of the authority of the Government. After having 

 been repeatedly warned, they have at last received a 

 designed and well-merited blow. 



