492 MACHETECHNICS. 



camp equipage, baggage waggons, and horses, clothing, provisions, 

 and forage. 



To the Quarter Master General, and his assistants, belong the 

 erection or procurement, and assignment, of store houses, for sup- 

 plies ; quarters, for the officers ; and barracks, for the men ; the 

 purchase of fuel, forage, horses, and teams ; the transportation of 

 troops ; and the transportation, and distribution of the arms, ammu- 

 nition, and other articles required for military service. Each indi- 

 vidual is charged with the articles delivered to him ; and held re- 

 sponsible therefor ; until they are returned or finally accounted for. 

 The Quarter Master's department thus becomes the responsible me- 

 dium, by which supplies are transported for the Ordnance, Subsist- 

 ence, Purchasing, and Medical departments, to the places where they 

 are required for use. The Quarter Master on duty in the field, is 

 also charged with laying out the space for encampments, and assign- 

 ing quarters to the several troops ; though the works of defence 

 around the encampment are planned and executed by an Engineer. 

 Both of these officers should therefore understand the principles of 

 Castrametation, or the laying out of camps ; both in regard to con- 

 venience and safety. The general parade ground, just in front of 

 the color line, usually extends across an encampment nearly centrally : 

 and in rear of it, the tents are arranged in rows, running back per- 

 pendicularly, %with intermediate spaces or streets for company parade 

 grounds ; the officers' tents being in the rear. 



To the Commissary General of Purchases, belongs the purchase 

 of tents and other camp equipage, and of clothing for the troops ; 

 except in special cases, otherwise provided for : and to the Commis- 

 sary General of Subsistence, belongs the procuring of provisions, 

 for the use of the troops. These supplies are often procured by 

 contract ; or else by miscellaneous purchase, wherever they can be 

 obtained. Provisions are usually dealt out to troops in rations, or 

 daily allowances; which are fixed by regulation, based on the results 

 of experience. A ration, in our army, at present consists of 12 ounces 

 of pork or bacon, or 20 ounces of fresh or salt beef; 18 ounces of 

 bread or flour, or 12 ounces of hard bread, or 20 ounces of corn- 

 meal ; and at the rate of 8 quarts of peas or beans, (or 10 pounds 

 of rice in lieu thereof,) with 4 quarts of vinegar, 6 pounds of coffee, 

 12 pounds of sugar, 2 quarts of salt, 4 pounds of soap, and l pounds 

 of candles for every hundred rations. The duties of the Medical 

 Department, are entrusted to a Surgeon General, aided by Surgeons 

 and Assistants; who have charge of the medical stores, including 

 hospitals and hospital tents ; and who attend the sick and the wounded. 

 The Pay Department, is under the supervision of a Paymaster Ge- 

 neral ; from whom the several Paymasters receive their funds, and 

 to whom they render their accounts. 



