I 
ARMY VETERINARY MEDICINE. 289 
administration of such remedies as could be had upon the pre¬ 
scription of any and all who would presume on making a sugges¬ 
tion. Usually the treatment was determined not so much by the 
nature of the complaint as by the drug that happened to be 
nearest at hand. 
The first recorded reference I can find to the position of army 
veterinary surgeon is in General Order No. 16, dated May 4th, 
1861, from the War Department, where, in giving the organiza¬ 
tion of “One additional regiment of cavalry,” under Par. 2, one 
veterinary sergeant is named in connection with the other ser¬ 
geants. Par. 3 of the same order says : “The veterinary sergeant 
shall receive the pay and allowances of sergeants of cavalry.” Ac¬ 
cording to Par. 1388 of the Revised Army Regulations of 1863, 
the veterinary sergeant received $17 pay per month, while the 
allowances consisted of rations, fuel, a mount and forage. 
But a change was soon made in this regard, for in General 
Order No. 73 of 1863, the Act of Congress relating to the Army 
Establishment is published, in Par. 6, Sec. 3T, of which appears 
the following: “And each regiment (cavalry) shall have one vet¬ 
erinary surgeon, with the rank of a regimental sergeant-major, 
whose compensation shall be $75 per month.” As will be ob¬ 
served the title “sergeant” was dropped and “surgeon” substi¬ 
tuted. By whom the appointments were made, or what consti¬ 
tuted the necessary qualifications no mention is made, so the in¬ 
ference is that the whole matter was placed at the discretion of 
the commanding officers of the various cavalry regiments. That 
the government officials appreciated the grave defects of the 
adopted system of. caring for the public animals is seen by the 
Quartermaster General’s Order No. 21 of 1863, in which he 
says: “It is not too much to say that the government has already 
been obliged to replace many thousands of horses and mules which, 
with proper understanding of, and attention to, their duties on 
the part of the Quartermasters, would have been at this momont 
in serviceable condition. * * * * Neglect and imbecility 
on the part of those in charge ruin them and tax the treasury.” 
This was strong language indeed, but I doubt if the Quartermas¬ 
ter General appreciated fully what was needed to effect the de- 
