36 



ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



than one-third of the entire sum paid for pen- 

 sions from the beginning of the Government 

 up to the fiscal year ending after the war be- 

 gan, which was $90,668,521.06. In that fiscal 

 year the amount was $790,384.76. The num- 

 ber of bounty land warrants issued from time 

 to time amounts to hundreds of thousands in 

 number; but counting them at $1.25 per acre, 

 the entire quantity of land so granted, the 

 commissioner says, does not exceed $83,000,- 

 000. 



By the act of July 28, 1866, the Bureau of 

 Military Justice is made to consist of one judge- 

 advocate-general and one assistant judge-advo- 

 cate-general, with ten judge-advocates, to be 

 selected from among those in office when the 

 act was passed, and to discharge their appro- 

 priate duties until the Secretary of War shall 

 decide that their services can be dispensed 

 with. During the past year 8,148 records of 

 courts-martial and military commissions were 

 received, reviewed, and filed in this bureau, 

 and 4,008 special reports made as to the regu- 

 larity of judicial proceedings, the pardon of 

 military offenders, etc v including letters qf in- 

 struction upon military law and practice to 

 judge-advocates and reviewing officers. The 

 business of the bureau, which reached its mini- 

 mum about the time of the adoption of the 

 new Army act, has since very much increased. 

 " The fact," says the Secretary of War, " that, in 

 a large number of important cases command- 

 ers of departments and armies are not author- 

 ized to execute sentences in time. of peace, and 

 that such cases can no longer be summarily dis- 

 posed of without a reference to the Executive, 

 will also require from the bureau a very con- 

 siderable number of reports which heretofore 

 have not been called for. Its aggregate will, it 

 is thought, not be reduced in proportion to the 

 reduction of the military force." The new Army 

 act provided for the discontinuance of the Pro- 

 vost-Marshal-General's Bureau on August 28, 

 1866. The records of its offices in the various 

 States are to be transferred to the Adjutant- 

 General's office in Washington, to which, also, 

 the settlement of the undetermined questions 

 and unfinished business pertaining to the bureau 

 has been referred. From various causes arising 

 out of the unsettled state of the Army, there 

 was a large number of desertions at the close 

 of the war. To check this evil, recruiting 

 officers were instructed to apprehend and send 

 to military posts for trial all deserters who 

 could be found in the vicinity of their stations, 

 and lists were sent from companies, with a de- 

 scription of deserters, to facilitate their arrest. 

 The number apprehended under this system 

 from February 1, 1866, to October 1, 1866, is 

 1,029. As an inducement to return to their 

 duty, the President published an offer of pardon 

 to all who would report themselves at a military 

 post by the 15th of August, 1866. Three hun- 

 dred and fourteen availed themselves of this 

 act of clemency. 



Under the new Army organization the quar 



termaster's department of the Army consists t;f 

 one quartermaster-general, six assistant quarter- 

 masters-general, ten deputy quar term asters- 

 general, fifteen quartermasters, and forty-four 

 assistant-quartermasters. The duties formerly 

 devolving upon this department have been so 

 much curtailed since the conclusion of the war, 

 that no further appropriations for its support 

 are needed for the next fiscal year, the balances 

 now available and the sums received and to be 

 received from the sale of material being deemed 

 sufficient. Among the items realized by the 

 sale of material since May, 1865, may be enu- 

 merated the following : 



Horses and mules $15,269,075 



Barracks, hospitals, and other buildings.. 447,873 



Clothing ; 902,770 



Transports, steamers, and barges 1,152,895 



Railroad equipment, cash sales 8,466,739 



" " credit sales 7,444,073 



No change has been made by the act of July 

 28, 1866, in the organization of the subsistence 

 department of the Army. A joint resolution 

 of July 25, 1866, made it the duty of this de- 

 partment to pay commutation of rations to 

 those United States soldiers who had been held 

 as prisoners of war. The total amount dis- 

 bursed by the department during the last fiscal 

 year was $7,518,872.54, and the amount dis- 

 bursed during the fiscal years of the war was : 



From July 1, 1861, to June 30, 1862. 

 From July 1, 1862, to June 80, 1863. 

 From July 1, 186J, to June 30, 1864. 

 From July 1, 1864, to June 30, 1865. 

 From July 1, 1865, to June 30, 1866. 



$48,799,521 14 

 69,537,582 78 

 98,666,918 50 



144,782,969 41 

 7,518,872 54 



Total amount $369,305,864 37 



From available balances and sums received 

 from the sale of subsistence stores, the depart- 

 ment is amply provided for the fiscal year, end- 

 ing June 30, 1867, and will need no further ap- 

 propriation. 



The medical department under the new Army 

 organization consists of one surgeon-general, 

 one assistant, surgeon-general, one chief medical 

 purveyor, and four assistant medical purveyors, 

 sixty surgeons, one hundred and fifty assistant 

 surgeons, and five medical storekeepers. The 

 funds at the disposal of the department during 

 the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1866, were 

 $5,386,064.24, of which $1,161,181.24 were the 

 balance of unexpended appropriations for the 

 preceding year, and $4,044,261.59 were derived 

 from the sale of old or surplus medical and hos- 

 pital property, leaving a balance in the treasury 

 for the next fiscal year of $2,546,457.14. The 

 reduction of the Army has enabled the depart- 

 ment to dispense with the system of general 

 hospitals, hospital transports and trains, ambu- 

 lance corps, and also a number of purveying 

 depots. There were, at the close of the year, 

 one hundred and eighty-seven post hospitals in 

 operation, with a capacity of ten thousand eight 

 hundred and eighty-one beds. The contraction 

 of the business of the department is forcibly 

 illustrated by the fact that of 64,438 patients 



