AEMY, UNITED STATES. 



33 



forts and lay the cities under contribution. 

 On firm land guns of a heavier calibre can be 

 handled, and with more accuracy of aim than 

 by an enemy afloat. It is also doubtful if any 

 armored ship yet built can long exist within 

 the range of twenty-inch guns, or even of 

 fifteen-inch guns, if skilfully handled. The 

 river and harbor works of the country have 

 progressed as rapidly as the appropriations 

 would permit. In the territory west of the 

 Mississsippi reconnoissances and geographical 

 and geological explorations have been con- 

 tinued, and the geological survey from the 

 jSierra Nevada to the Eocky Mountains com- 

 pleted. 



All the troops are now supplied with breech- 

 loading small-arms of the best kind. It ap- 

 pears that the experience of the late war has 

 demonstrated that for field-guns the Napoleon 

 twelve-pounder, smooth bore, and the three- 

 inch ordnance rifled gun, are unsurpassed. In 

 respect to heavy coast ordnance there exists a 

 diversity of opinion. Some think that for the 

 heavy sea-coast forts the ten-inch, fifteen-inch, 

 and twenty-inch smooth-bore cast-iron guns 

 for the great mass of fire, wjth mortars of the 

 same calibre, and using the same shot, would 

 be the most useful. A joint committee of Con- 

 gress, appointed to investigate this with other 

 subjects, made a report on ordnance, on March 

 20th. The conclusions to which their investi- 

 gations led them were as follows : 



1. That no more heavy guns should "be purchased 

 for mounting in the fortifications or use on shipboard 

 until such improvements are made in the methods 

 of fabrication as will insure more reliable endurance 

 than has heretofore been exhibited. 



show it to be unworthy of further confidence. Re- 

 cent improvements in defensive works and armor- 

 plating render heavy rifled guns the most efficient 

 means of attack, and no iystem of fabrication which 

 does not furnish such guns should be adopted or 

 continued. The principle of initial tension, which is 

 the "basis of the Kodman system, appears to be of 

 doubtful utility, as applied by General Rodman, es- 

 pecially for rifled guns. This tension, it is admitted, 

 gradually disappears from the gun with age, and in 

 time is entirely lost. 



3. That guns cast solid, in the manner practised in 

 the navy under the direction of Kear-Admiral Dahl- 

 gren, while exhibiting satisfactory endurance as 

 smooth bores with small charges and hollow projec- 

 tiles, have not the requisite strength for rifles of large 

 calibre. This mode of casting seems to be defective 

 in principle, as the tensions inaugurated in cooling 

 have a tendency to aid the powder to rupture the 

 gun. 



4. That experiments should be at once conducted 

 for the purpose of ascertaining the real cause of the 

 bursting of heavy guns^ and of determining upon 

 some method of fabrication that will secure uniform 

 endurance. 



5. That every encouragement should be given to 

 inventors, and a full and fair trial accorded to all de- 

 vices ofl'ered to the Government that promise a 

 solution of the ordnance problem. 



6. That more efficient means for harbor defence 

 should be adopted. The late war demonstrated that 

 sand was the best material for defensive works, and 

 that forts of masonry, such as we have now mainly 



VOL. ix. 3. A 



to rely upon for the protection of our seaboard cities, 

 are inefficient to prevent the passage of armored, or 

 even wooden vessels. The destruction of such de- 

 fences is only a question of time to ordinary guns of 

 heavy calibre. It was also demonstrated that forts 

 alone, of whatever character, cannot resist the en- 

 trance to harbors of powerfully-armed ships, if the 

 preponderance of guns ^ on the assailing fleet is 

 sufficient. In the opinion of the committee, ob- 

 structions must be largely relied upon for harbor 

 defence, in connection with properly-constructed 

 fortifications. 



7. That no officer of the Army or Navy should be 

 allowed to receive a patent for any article required, 

 or likely to be required, for use in those branches or 

 the public service, or be in any way interested in 

 the manufacture or procurement of such articles. 

 It should be the duty of Congress to recognize by 

 suitable rewards the services of such officers as 

 might make inventions of especial value to the Gov- 

 ernment. 



8. That- the Ordnance Department of the Army 

 can be entirely abolished with great advantage as to 

 economy, and without detriment to the good of the 

 service. The duties now performed by officers of 

 that corps could be performed by officers detailed 

 from the artillery service, under the direction of a 

 chief stationed at Washington. In this manner the 

 whole expense of the ordinance establishment would 

 be saved, and artillery officers, who have not only- 

 scientific training, but practical experience, would 

 have a voice in the selection of the guns and ammu- 

 nition they are required to use. 



This committee declared the present ord- 

 nance system to be a failure, and that the 

 country was without a single rifled gun of 

 large calibre. 



Instruction in signals has been continued in 

 every department, for the purpose of so diffus- 

 ing a knowledge of the service and distributing 

 apparatus that every officer may have' such 

 information of the duty as may suffice in cas-e 

 of emergency to save life in, or prevent disas- 

 ter to, his command. The signal service has 

 been brought into active use in operations 

 against the Indians on the plains. The organ- 

 ization and development of the field telegraph 

 has received especial attention, and continued 

 tests have been made with portable lines, such 

 as are used with trains in the field. The field 

 telegraph trains are organized in a military 

 form, which requires all movements to be 

 executed at the word of command. An object 

 has been to provide a train so equipped and 

 organized as to enable four portable lines, 

 carried in it, to be erected simultaneously, at 

 about the rate of three miles an hour. 



The operations of the Freedmen's Bureau 

 have been closed, except the educational and 

 bounty divisions. All the hospitals but two 

 have been closed or transferred to the civil 

 authorities. Of the two, one is about to be 

 closed and the other will remain in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia. The number of persons 

 which the Bureau has had under its care is 

 584,178. During the existence of the Bureau 

 about one in two hundred, or one-half of one 

 per cent, of the freed people, have been sup- 

 ported by the Government. The freedmen 

 were advised to make written contracts with 

 their employers, and have the same explained 



