58 



ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



master - General's Department for the year 

 ending June 30, 1869, is $41,780,066.20, in- 

 cluding a deficiency in the appropriations of 

 $13,600,000, required to meet the expenses 

 of the Department for the year ending June 

 30, 1868. The following are the items : 



For regular supplies $350,000 



For incidental expenses 750,000 



For purchasing cavalry and artillery horses 400,000 



For transportation of army 7,300,000 



Miscellaneous items 667,000 



$9,467,000 

 For reconstruction expenses in the five 



military districts 657,000 



For Freedmen's Bureau, additional ap- 

 propriation 3,836,800 



$13,960,800 



From the Subsistence Department sales of 

 accumulated stores continue to be made, 

 and the proceeds are sufficient to meet the 

 demands of the department for the coming 

 year. The extension of the Union Pacific Kail- 

 road has greatly facilitated the means of sup- 

 plying distant military posts. Subsistence was 

 furnished to the Freedmen's Bureau to the 

 amount of $882,684.66, and to the Indians, at 

 a cost of $644,439.22. Sutlers are permitted 

 to continue their traffic with the troops during 

 the inability of the commissary department to 

 supply them, in accordance with a resolution 

 of Congress of March 30, 1867. 



The Surgeon-General's Department for the 

 year ending June 30, 1867, exhibits resources 

 amounting to $3,074,603.22, of which $2,546,- 

 457.14 were the balance from the previous year. 

 $293,002.82 were derived from the sale of sur- 

 plus hospital property. The balance on hand, 

 June 30, 1867, was $2,909,614.08. The troops 

 at various points in the West and Southwest 

 were visited with the Asiatic cholera in June, 

 1867, which threatened to become epidemic. 

 Three surgeons, six assistant-surgeons, and seven 

 acting assistant-surgeons have died since Octo- 

 ber 20, 1866 ; of these, five died of yellow fever, 

 and three of Asiatic cholera. 



In the mortuary records of this Department, 

 alphabetical registers are kept of the dead who 

 fell in the late war. As far as completed, they 

 contain the names of two hundred and forty- 

 four thousand seven hundred and forty-seven 

 white soldiers, twenty thousand seven hundred 

 and ninety-six colored soldiers, and thirty thou- 

 sand two hundred and four Confederate soldiers. 

 The average annual strength of the white troops 

 is reported at forty-one thousand one hundred 

 and four; of the colored, at six thousand five 

 hundred and sixty-one. The number reported 

 sick from all causes is, white, one hundred and 

 twenty-two thousand one hundred and eighty- 

 one, and colored, nineteen thousand six hundred 

 and ninety-four; an average of about three en- 

 tries for sickness to each man. The mortality 

 during the year was one thousand five hundred 

 and twenty-seven; six hundred and eighteen 

 white and colored soldiers were discharged for 

 disability. 



The corps of Engineers consists of one hun- 

 dred and seven officers, and the battalion of 

 engineer troops. The greater part of the corps 

 are employed supervising work on the defences 

 of the country, the survey of the lakes, the im- 

 provement of rivers and harbors, etc. The re- 

 mainder are detached as staff- officers, instruc- 

 tors at the Military Academy, etc. The head- 

 quarters of the Engineer battalion, with three 

 companies, are established at Willett's Point, 

 New York. Two other depots have been located 

 at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and at San Francisco, 

 Cal., and a company attached to each. A de- 

 tachment of the battalion, to instruct in practi- 

 cal engineering, is also at the Military Academy. 

 Valuable maps of the country, from the Missis- 

 sippi to the Pacific, have been prepared, chiefly 

 from the surveys of the Engineer corps. The 

 estimated expenditure of the Engineer Bureau 

 for the coming year is $10,528,769.88, the 

 greater part of which is for river and harbor 

 improvements authorized by the last Congress. 



In the Ordnance Department, a feature of in- 

 terest is the conversion of fifty thousand Spring- 

 field rifle-muskets into breech-loaders. The 

 converted musket is considered equal to any 

 breech-loader made in this country or Europe. 

 The almost unanimous opinion of officers is, 

 "that the musket is simple, strong, not liable to 

 get out of order, and extremely accurate in fir- 

 ing;" a judgment formed from witnessing its 

 excellent service in the late Indian campaign. 

 There have been fabricated seven million car- 

 tridges for breech-loading arms, known as 

 " central fire," extensive trials of which have 

 resulted in an average failure of only one-third 

 of one per cent. Smooth-bore cannon of less 

 than eight inches calibre have proved ineffective 

 against iron-clad war-vessels, and they will be 

 superseded by those of heavier calibre, and by 

 rifled cannon for sea-coast forts. A board of 

 engineer, ordnance, and artillery officers, spe- 

 cially appointed, reported that one thousand nine 

 hundred and fifteen pieces of the calibre of 

 thirteen, fifteen, and twenty inches for smooth- 

 bores, and of ten and twelve inches for rifles, 

 were required for the permanent fortifications. 

 This report was approved by the Secretary of 

 War. 



An artillery school is to be established at 

 Fort Monroe, Va., by order of the War Depart- 

 ment (November 13, 1867), for practical instruc- 

 tion in the construction and service of all kinds 

 of artillery, in the duties of artillery troops in 

 campaigns and sieges, and in military law and 

 history, mathematics, etc. The school is to 

 have at least five batteries, which are to be the 

 "instruction batteries of the foot artillery," 

 to be composed of one battery selected from each 

 regiment of artillery, and such other officers and 

 enlisted artillerymen as may be ordered to 

 the school. 



The course of tuition in military signalling 

 and telegraphing has been established at West 

 Point, and steps taken to introduce these studies 

 into the Military and Naval Academies. A pro- 



