ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



87 



and 



ing in general hospitals, Jnne 30, 1865, 

 id admitted during the year following, on tho 

 nh otMuue, 1st;''', only ninety-seven remained 

 iivatment. due hundred and seventeen 

 id assistant surgeons of volunteers, 

 nd 1,7.">:! acting assistant surgeons, have been 

 MiisU-ivd out during the year, and but 264 of 

 'i-ado remained in July last; a corre- 

 ':ng diminution has been made of hospital 

 Is. Of tlio 98 applicants for positions 

 tin- anny medical staff in September, 1865, 

 ily 10 passed. 



An important part of the business of the year 

 n tlic selection and distribution, of arti- 

 i.-ial limbs for maimed soldiers. Twenty-three 

 lodels have bcon approved, and 6,410 limbs, 

 all kinds, have been given out. About one 

 lonsand are still to be supplied. In consequence 

 many instances of fraud, it is recommended 

 uit hereafter the applicant shall receive the 

 -talilished money value of the limb instead of, 

 at present, an order upon tho manufacturer. 

 Hiring the past year the Government has paid 

 rcat attention to soldiers' graves and ceme- 

 . The former have been carefully tended, 

 and the occupant's name and rank put at the 

 of each grave as well as on the records 

 tho cemetery. At first this was done on 

 wooden head-boards ; but Government, with a 

 ;<> make the head-boards more lasting, 

 iaa recently ordered them to be constructed 

 iron. Forty-one national military ceme- 

 - have been established, and into these 

 had already been gathered, on June 30, 1866, 

 the remains of 104,526 Union soldiers. The 

 ites for ten additional cemeteries have been 

 elected, and the work upon them is now 

 course of vigorous prosecution. It is esti- 

 lated that tho national cemeteries will be re- 

 quired to receive the remains of 249,397 sol- 

 diers. The average cost of the removals and 

 reinterments already accomplished is reported 

 at $9.75, amounting in the aggregate to $1,144,- 

 791, and an additional expenditure of $1,609,- 

 294 will probably be needed. The alphabetical 

 registers of the dead filed in the office of tho 

 Medical Department contain the names of 250,- 

 000 white soldiers, and 20,000 colored soldiers. 

 Tho sanitary measures taken by the Medical 

 Department in 1866 in anticipation of the cholera 

 In coming epidemic in the United States, in- 

 cluding a rigid military quarantine on the South- 

 ern Atlantic coast, proved exceedingly timely 

 and beneficial, and the general health of tho 

 army was excellent. The average mean strength 

 of the white soldiers for the year was 100,133, 

 and the proportion of deaths from all causes to 

 that of cases treated was one to every 52 ; the 

 average mean strength of colored troops for 

 tho year was 53,541, and among them the propor- 

 tion of cases taken sick was greater than with 

 the white troops, and the deaths one in 29 

 of the cases treated. This result would seem 

 to indicate a greater power of resistance to* 

 disease in white than in colored troops, though 

 the data may not be sufficient .to justify a gen- 



oral conclusion on the subject. The casualties 

 in the regular and volunteer medical staffduring 

 tho war, number 336; of these, 29 were killed 

 in battle; 12 by accident; 10 died of wounds; 4 

 in Confederate prisons ; 7 of yellow fever ; 3 of 

 cholera ; 271 of other diseases. During the- war, 

 also, 35 medical officers were wounded in battle. 



The Surgeon-General announces in his annual 

 report that the first volume of the "Medical 

 and Surgical History of the War " is nearly 

 ready for publication. In connection with this 

 work is a large and valuable pathological mu- 

 seum, which is to be classified and suitably 

 arranged in a building in Washington specially 

 appropriated for its reception. 



Under the new organization tho Engineer 

 Corps consists of one chief of engineers, six colo- 

 nels, twelve lieutenant-colonels, twenty-four 

 majors, thirty captains, and twenty-six first and 

 ten second lieutenants ; and the five companies of 

 engineer soldiers previously prescribed by law 

 now constitute a battalion, officered by officers 

 of suitable rank detailed from the corps of en- 

 gineers. The greater part of the corps during 

 the last year were engaged in the supervision 

 of the defensive works in progress throughout 

 the country, the remainder being employed on 

 detached duty, as commanders of departments, 

 staff officers, etc. AtWillett's Point, N. Y., and 

 Jefferson Barracks, Mo., two principal depots 

 of engineer supplies have been established, where 

 the most valuable material remaining over from 

 the war has been collected for future emer- 

 gencies. 



The new Army bill makes no change in the 

 number of officers and enlisted men in the Ord- 

 nance Department. The officers are one briga- 

 dier-general, three colonels, four lieutenant- 

 colonels, ten majors, twenty captains, sixteen 

 first and ten second lieutenants, besides thirteen 

 ordnance storekeepers. The operations of tho 

 department at arsenals are now limited to the 

 construction of wrought-iron sea-coast gun-car- 

 riages, and such ordnance supplies as are needed 

 for immediate use ; the preservation of service- 

 able stores left on hand at the close of the war, 

 and the completion of new buildings. Fire- 

 proof workshops have been completed at 

 Watervliet, Frankfort, and Alleghany Arsenals, 

 and powder magazines at St. Louis, Washing- 

 ton, and Benicia, and others are to be com- 

 menced in the spring of 1867. All the South- 

 ern arsenals have been reoccupied by the de- 

 partment, except the Harper's Ferry armory, 

 and the arsenals in North Carolina, Florida, 

 and Arkansas. The Chief of Ordnance is of the 

 opinion that it is not advisable to rebuild the 

 armory at Harper's Ferry or the North Caro- 

 lina arsenal, both of which were destroyed by 

 fire, and the sale of both is recommended. The 

 construction of the armory at Rock Island, 111., 

 is to be commenced as soon as good titles to 

 tho property have been acquired. From Jan- 

 uary 1, 1861, to June 30, 1866, the Ordnance 

 Department provided 7,892 cannon, 11,787 ar 

 tillery carriages, 4,022.130 small-arms, 2,362,546 



