Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

46

usual with troops engaged in arduous campaigns. At the close of the year the number of sick and wounded, both with their commands and in general hospitals, was less than 16 per cent. of the strength of the army. The number sick with their respective commands was 4 per cent., and in general hospitals 5 and per cent. of the strength. Of the 6 and per cent. wounded, nearly 1 per cent. were with their respective commands; the rest in general hospitals. By an act approved March 11th, 1864, a uniform system of ambulances was established, which in operation has proved very successful. The corps is made up of officers and enlisted men, detailed for the service, under the control of the chief medical directors of the several armies. A captain commands the ambulances of an army corps; a first lieutenant those of each division of such corps; a second lieutenant those of each brigade of such division, and a sergeant those of each regiment. To each ambulance three privates are attached, and to each wagon one. From three to one ambulances are attached to each regiment, according to its numerical strength. The ambulance corps is uniformed and thoroughly instructed in the most expeditious manner of removing sick and wounded men, and has the sole charge of accompanying them to the rear, in action or on the march. The latter provision has greatly increased the efficiency of troops in battle, by preventing the confusion previously caused by men indiscriminately conveying wounded comrades from the field.

By an act passed in 1864 the pay of privates in infantry, cavalry, and artillery organizations was increased to $16 per month, and that of petty officers in proportion, the rations remaining the same. The Secretary of War reported the whole army as paid up to Aug. 31st, 1864. Medals of honor were awarded during the year in many cases to deserving non-commissioned officers and privates. By another act officers employing soldiers as servants are subjected to a reduction of pay. This provision was intended to prevent the withdrawal of troops from active duty for menial purposes, which has proved injurious to the service. In cases where civilians are employed by those who are allowed servants, the law does not apply.

The Provost Marshal General reported the Veteran Reserve corps (formerly the Invalid corps) as consisting, October 1, 1864, of 764 officers and 28,738 men; its discipline and instruction good; and that the entire corps is doing duty which would otherwise have to be performed by an equal number of able-bodied troops detached from the armies in the field; and that it is yet inadequate in numbers to fill the demands made on it. It has rendered valuable service in guarding the depots of volunteers, substitutes, and drafted men, and in escorting detachments to their regiments; and during the summer campaign of the Army of the Potomac its operations were extended almost to the front.

At the close of 1864 only five revolutionary pensioners were surviving, to whom the 38th Congress, at its second session, voted a gratuity of $300 a year, in addition to their regular pension of $100. The number of army pensioners (other than Revolutionary) who were paid during the fourteen months ending the 30th of June, 1864, was 22,767; of widows (other than Revolutionary), orphans, and dependent mothers, 25,433; and the total number, including Revolutionary pensioners and widows of Revolutionary pensioners, who received pensions during that period, was 49,630, to whom was paid the sum of $4,340,368.60. Of this amount more than $3,500,000 were on account of disability or death incurred during the existing war.

The supplies of ordnance produced during the year included 1,750 pieces of ordnance, 2,361 artillery carriages and caissons, 802,525 small arms, 794,055 sets of accoutrements and harness, 1,674,244 projectiles for cannon, 12,740,146 pounds of bullets and lead, 8,409,400 pounds of gunpowder, 169,490,029 cartridges for small-arms, in addition to large quantities partially made up at the arsenals. The supplies furnished to the military service during the same period included 1,141 pieces of ordnance, 1,896 artillery carriages and caissons, 455,910 small-arms, 502,044 sets of accoutrements and harness, 1,913,753 projectiles for cannon, 7,624,685 pounds of bullets and lead, 464,549 rounds of artillery ammunition, 152,067 sets of horse equipments, 112,087,553 cartridges for small-arms, 7,544,044 pounds of gunpowder. The national armory at Springfield, Mass., was reported in a condition to turn out 300,000 of the best quality of rifle muskets annually. The stock on hand, at the close of the year, amounted to a million and a quarter, exclusive of the arms in the hands of the troops.

At the close of 1864 the military geographical departments were in charge of the following generals:

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

The several army corps, were, on Jan. 1st, where the county is not divided into wards, towns, 1865, commanded as follows:

[blocks in formation]

23d. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield.
24th. Maj.-Gen. E. O. C. Ord.

25th. Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel.

The casualties in the volunteer service during the year were, major-generals three, viz., John Sedgwick, James B. McPherson, and Daniel D. Birney; and brigadier-generals seventeen, viz., Stephen C. Champlin, Alexander Hays, James S. Wadsworth, Thomas G. Stevenson, James C. Rice, J. St. C. Morton, C. G. Harker, Samuel A. Rice, Daniel McCook, Lucien Greathouse, G. A. Stedman, Daniel P. Woodbury, J. A. Howell, David A. Russell, Hiram Burnham, Daniel D. Bidwell, and T. E. G. Ransom; total, 20.

By a return made to the United States Senate by the Secretary of War, it appears that on Jan. 1st, 1865, there were sixty-six major-generals of volunteers, and two hundred and sixtyseven brigadier-generals of volunteers in the service, of whom forty-five major-generals and two hundred brigadiers held active commands. Of the remainder two were before the Committee on the Conduct of the War; twenty were awaiting orders; two were employed as commissioners for exchange of prisoners; twenty-seven were members of courts-martial, military commissions, etc.; fifteen were off duty on account of sickness or wounds; fourteen were employed on special duty; three were absent on furlough; three were under trial; and two were prisoners of war, one of them, Gen. Hayes, having been released on parole at Richmond, to superintend the distribution of supplies sent to Federal soldiers in rebel prisons. Under the head of "Enrolment and Draft" the process for obtaining men to serve in the national armies, adopted by the act of Congress of March 3d, 1863, was described in the 3d volume of this work. During 1864 two acts, amendatory of this act or making further provisions on the subject, that of February 24th, and that of July 4th, were passed by the 38th Congress. By section 2 of the former act, which authorizes the President, at his discretion, to call for men for military service, it was provided, That the quota of each ward of a city, town, township, precinct, or election district, or of a county

* Reorganizing and not in active service.

townships, precincts, or election districts, shall be as nearly as possible in proportion to the number of men resident therein liable to render military service, taking into account, as far as practicable, the number which has been previously furnished therefrom; and in ascertaining and filling said quota

there shall be taken into account the number of men who have heretofore entered the naval service of the United States, and whose names are borne upon the enrolment lists as already returned to the office of the Provost Marshal General of the United States.

When a quota is not filled within the time designated by the President a draft is to be made, and should this prove unsuccessful, further drafts are to be ordered, until the quota of each district is filled. Enrolled and drafted men are authorized to furnish acceptable substitutes "who are not liable to draft and are not in the military or naval service; " and the principals are exempted from military service during the time for which such substitutes are accepted. Persons in the military or naval service, however, who have served a year and have less than six months more to serve, are available as substitutes "in the troops of the State in which they enlisted." The money commutation clause of the act of 1863 is declared to exempt a drafted person only from draft on a single quota, and for no longer period than a year. The boards of enrolment are directed to enrol all persons liable to draft and accidentally omitted, also

All persons who shall arrive at the age of twenty years before the draft; all aliens who shall declare their intention to become citizens; all persons discharged from the military or naval service of the United States who have not been in such servics two years during the present war; and all persons who have been exempted under the provisions of the 2d section of the act to which this is an amendment, but who are not exempted by the provisions the time of the enrolment and the draft, shall have of this act. The names of all persons who, between reached the age of forty-five, are to be stricken from the enrolment.

Sailors in the merchant service drafted into the military service are allowed, under certain conditions, to enlist in the navy. Persons exempted from enrolment or draft must be such as are rejected as physically or mentally unfit for the service, those already in the service, and those who have served two years during the present war and been honorably discharged. Those sections of the act of 1863 providing for the enrolment of two classes of persons are repealed. The act further provides that members of religious denominations conscientiously opposed to the bearing of arms, or prohibited from so doing by their rules and articles of faith, shall be considered, if drafted, non-contestants, and be assigned to duty in hospitals, etc., or be exempted by the payment of $300. The following section (24) relates to the enrolment of colored persons:

All able-bodied male colored persons, between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, resident in the United States, shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act, and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the national forces;

The July call for 500,000 men, as has been stated, failed, from the numerous credits on account of army and navy enlistments, to produce the number of men required; and in assigning the quotas under the succeeding December call a new element had to be taken into consideration, viz., how many localities had filled their quotas with three years' men, how many with two years' men, and how many with one year's men. Hence the Provost Marshal General announced that the number of men to be furnished under the December call, would not be in proportion to the population of States or Districts, or to the number enrolled. In a communication to the Governor of Minnesota, in reply to inquiries respecting the quota of that State, he observed:

and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted the enrolment of the national forces, which and mustered into the service of the United States, resulted, on November 1st, in placing on the his master shall have a certificate thereof, and therelists the names of 2,784,226 men; also, that on upon such slave shall be free; and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted July 31st there was no material deficiency in man, shall be paid to the person to whom such the United States on the quotas of troops redrafted person was owing service or labor at the quired, such localities as were behindhand havtime of his muster into the service of the United ing been drafted for the amounts due from States. The Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented in them. The draft under the July call took Congress, charged to award to each loyal person to place during the excitement of the Presidential whom a colored volunteer may owe service a just canvass, and notwithstanding threats of resistcompensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars, ance, and some instances of actual organized refor each such colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutation, and every such sistance, proceeded in accordance with the law. colored volunteer on being mustered into the service A large portion of the commutation money reshall be free. And in all cases where men of color ceived from drafted men, while such commuhave been heretofore enlisted or have volunteered in tation was lawful, was appropriated "for the the military service of the United States, all the pro- expenses of the draft and for the procuration visions of this act, so far as the payment of bounty of substitutes." and compensation are provided, shall be equally applicable as to those who may be hereafter recruited. But men of color, drafted or enlisted, or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be credited on the quotas of the several States, or subdivisions of States, wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered into regiments or companies as United States colored troops. By the act of July 4th the President is authorized to call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two, and three years. Such volunteers or their substitutes shall be credited to the town, township, ward, etc., toward the quota of which they may have volunteered or engaged as substitutes. Every accepted and mustered volunteer for one year shall receive $100 bounty, for two years $200, for three years $300; one-third of the bounty at the time of muster in, one-third at the expiration of half the term of service, and one-third at the expiration of the term of service. In case of his death in service the residue of the bounty goes to the widow; in case there is no widow then to the children; in case there are no children, then to the soldier's mother, if she be alive. The $300 commutation clause is absolutely repealed, and if any quota remains unfilled at the expiration of fifty days from a call the President is directed to order a draft for one year to fill such quota. The Executives of the States are authorized to send recruiting agents into States declared to be in rebellion as mentioned above. Other sections provide against the enlistment of persons under sixteen years of age, and direct that drafted men, substitutes, and volunteers shall be assigned to organizations from their own States, and that drafts shall be for one hundred per cent. in addition to the number required to fill the quotas. Section 8 provides as follows:

All persons in the naval service of the United States who have entered said service during the present rebellion, who have not been credited to the quota of any town, district, ward, or State, by reason of their being in said service and not enrolled prior to February 24th, 1864, shall be enrolled and credited to the quotas of the town, ward, district, or State, in which they respectively reside, upon satisfactory proof of their residence made to the Secretary of War. The Provost Marshal General reports that during the year efforts were made to perfect

Had all localities filled the call for 500,000 with three years' men, or all one year's men, or all in the same proportion of both, the number of men to be tion to the number enrolled. But as it would be unfurnished under the present call would be in proporjust and illegal to require a district which had filled its quota under the last call with three years' men to furnish as many men under the present call as an equal district which had filled its quota under the nished three times the number of years of service last call with one year's men, the former having furwhich the latter had furnished, it became necessary to estimate the number of years of service which each State, district, and sub-district had furnished respectively, so that in ascertaining the required number for each district in order to obtain three hundred thousand men, each locality would receive full credit for the number of years of service furnished under the last call, or excess carried forward and credited upon that call, previous calls being filled three years' basis. with three years' men, or enlistments reduced to the

*

[ocr errors]

*

*

In crediting the excess that is carried forward from the call of July 18, 1864, and applied to the call of December 19, 1864, I consider not only the number of men of which the excess is composed, but also the period of their service; and the quotas assigned under the call of December 19, are thus reduced by this excess of service, and hence they should not be further reduced, except by enlistments subsequent to December 19, 1864, the date of the call for three hundred thousand men.

These quotations may be considered to embody the principle on which the raising of men for the military and naval service will be conducted under the present enrolment acts. For further details see MICHIGAN.

ARMY OPERATIONS. At the commencement of the year, the army of the Potomac, under Gen. Meade, was near Culpepper Court House, in Virginia, with the army under Gen. Lee in front and south of him. The Confederate Gen. Early had been ordered to command the forces in the Shenandoah valley, with his headquarters at Staunton. The Federal forces held Winchester, Martinsburg, and Harper's Ferry, and occupied the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in Western Virginia. Gen. Burnside was still at Knoxville, in East Tennessee, with a line of communication into Kentucky. Eastward of him was Gen. Longstreet, with a division of the Confederate army. The army of Gen. Grant was in front of Chattanooga, in the southeast corner of Tennessee, and a force of the enemy before him at Dalton, under Gen. Bragg.

The following address to his soldiers had been issued by Gen. Grant, near the close of

1863:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, CHATTANOOGA, TENN., Dec. 10, 1863. The General Commanding takes this opportunity of returning his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved over the enemy. In a short time you have recovered from him the control of the Tennessee River, from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged him from his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga valley, wrested from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to him his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the State. By your noble heroism and determined courage, you have effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this the General Commanding thanks you collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success against this unholy rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields of strife; and with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, however formidable, can check your onward march.

By order of Major-General U. S. GRANT. T. S. BOWERS, Ass't Adj.-Gen.

The line of communication of Gen. Grant extended to Nashville by the railroad, through Stevenson and Murfreesboro'. Florence and Corinth were also held by a Federal force until the earlier portion of the year, when the former was occupied by the enemy. Military posts consisting of fortifications and heavy guns, with negro troops, were established on the Mississippi River at Cairo, Columbus, New Madrid, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Helena, Goodrich's Landing, Vicksburg, Natchez, Port Hudson, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Forts Jackson and St. Philip. There were also

A

forces at other points adjacent to these. large force was under the command of Gen. Banks, in New Orleans, with detachments at Brashear City, and at Brownsville, on the Rio Grande. Gen. Steele occupied Little Rock, Arkansas, with a considerable force, and Gen. Rosecrans, in command of the department, had a small body of troops in Missouri. The military positions on the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina remained unchanged.

The number of troops in the field at the commencement of the year can be only indefinitely estimated. Between October, 1863, and May, 1864, seven hundred thousand new troops took the field, as stated by Senator Wilson in Congress. A portion of these supplied the place of the three years' men whose term of service expired in 1864. A large majority of the latter, however, reënlisted (see ARMY U.S.)

The number of Confederate troops in the field known as veterans, in the beginning of the year, was as follows: That portion of the Southern army which constituted the force under Gen. Lee (counting in Gen. Longstreet, who commanded a portion of his army), numbered ninety thousand troops. This is also counting in the troops which were in the vicinity of Abingdon, Lynchburg, and other portions of Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee, formerly under Gen. Samuel Jones, who was detached from Gen. Lee's army late in September, 1863, to operate against Gen. Burnside, and afterwards under the command of Gen. Breckinridge. At Richmond and at Petersburg there were, not counting in citizens and home guards, about three thousand men. Between Petersburg and Weldon there were one thousand men. Along the railroad, between Weldon and Wilmington, there were at least six thousand men. The forces under Gen. Pickett numbered eight thousand men. Imboden and Moseby together had four thousand men-all guerrillas. This swelled the army in Eastern Virginia and North Carolina to one hundred and twelve thousand strong.

The second great army in the Confederacy was that under Gen. Johnston, a large portion of which was cavalry. The army known as the Army of the Tennessee was composed of two corps, each having six divisions of infantry, amounting to thirty-six thousand men. There were also several divisions of cavalry, numbering at least eighteen thousand men, making an aggregate of fifty-four thousand. This included the four divisions sent to reënforce Bishop Polk, and the two divisions sent to Mobile, and the entire cavalry under Wheeler, Wharton, and John Morgan. Gen. Johnston also had command of all the Confederate forces in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, except those at Savannah, Mobile, and under Forrest, who had an independent (roving) commission. Before the arrival of Gen. Sherman at Meridian, Gen. Polk had eighteen thousand troops, only two thousand of which were vet

erans.

The forces in South Carolina and at Savannah, under Gen. Beauregard, and in Florida, under Gen. McCown, numbered ten thousand. This only included the veterans, or old soldiers, as the armies in these three localities above mentioned a little later numbered twenty-five thousand men.

The next regular armies of the Confederacy were the Trans-Mississippi forces, scattered in different portions of Arkansas and Texas, and all under the command of Lieut.-Gen. Kirby Smith, the army in Arkansas under Gen. Holmes, and the army in Texas under Gen. Magruder; the old soldiers of which numbered twelve thousand men.

The forces at Mobile, under Gens. Maury and Claiborne, numbered about eight thousand. The forces under Gen. Forrest, and under Chalmers, Lee, and Richardson, amounted to six thousand, which included all the veterans in the rebel service.

To this may be added, however, in the same line, twelve thousand soldiers engaged in important prison guard, and in the hospitals and quartermasters' and commissary departments. There were also about two thousand men engaged in the guerrilla warfare on the banks of the Mississippi. No other guerrilla bands of importance existed in Gen. Grant's depart ment. There was not a single squad in Kentucky, East and Middle Tennessee, Northern Alabama or Northern Georgia. There were still several guerrilla organizations in West Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. The people themselves had rid the country.

The total of these veterans was two hundred

and twenty-four thousand; to these were added, at the beginning of the year, one hundred and twenty thousand conscripts, making the number in the service three hundred and fortyfour thousand.

The earliest operations of importance, in 1864, consisted of a movement under Gen. Sherman from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Meridian, Alabama; another under Gen. Smith, from Memphis, Tennessee, to cooperate with Gen. Sherman; another under Gen. Grant's orders, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, upon Dalton, Georgia, and another under Gen. Schofield, who relieved Gen. Burnside, upon the forces under Gen. Longstreet, in East Tennessee. Upon the return of Gen. Sherman from East Tennessee to Chattanooga, his command was stationed at Scottsboro', Alabama, and thence along the Memphis and Chattanooga railroad, to Huntsville. Near the end of January, Gen. Sherman went to Memphis and Vicksburg, to command an expedition. Corinth was abandoned, and the Memphis railroad eastward of Lagrange to Huntsville, and a large body of troops sent down the Mississippi to Vicksburg. The following letter was addressed by Gen. Sherman, at this time, to his adjutant-general, relative to the course to be pursued by subordinate commanders of military districts to the

inhabitants:

HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF THE TENNESSEE,
VICKSBURG, January 81, 1864.

Major R. M. Sawyer, Ass't Adj.-Gen. Army of the
Tennessee, Huntsville:

DEAR SAWYER: In my former letter I have answered all your questions, save one, and that relates to the treatment of inhabitants, known or suspected to be hostile, or "secesh." This is in truth the most difficult business of our army as it advances and occupies the Southern country. It is almost impossible to lay down rules, and I invariably leave this whole subject to the local commanders, but am willing to give them the benefit of my acquired knowledge and experience.

In Europe, whence we derive our principles of war, as developed by their histories, wars are between kings or rulers, through hired armies, and not between peoples. These remain, as it were, neutral, and sell their produce to whatever army is in possession.

Russia, bought forage and provisions of the inhabiNapoleon, when at war with Prussia, Austria, and tants, and consequently had an interest to protect farms and factories which ministered to his wants. In like manner, the allied armies in France could buy of the French inhabitants whatever they needed, try. Therefore, the rule was and is, that wars are the produce of the soil, or manufactures of the counconfined to the armies, and should not visit the homes of families or private interests.

But, in other examples, a different rule obtained the sanction of historical authority. I will only instance that, when, in the reign of William and Mary, the English army occupied Ireland, then in a state of revolt, the inhabitants were actually driven into foreign lands, and were actually dispossessed of their property, and a new population introduced. To this day, a large part of the north of Ireland is held by the descendants of the Scotch emigrants, sent there by William's order and an act of Parliament.

The war which prevails in our land is essentially a war of races. The Southern people entered into a clear compact of Government, but still maintained a species of separate interests, history, and prejudices. These latter became stronger and stronger, till they have led to a war, which has developed the fruits of the bitterest kind.

We of the North are, beyond all question, right in our lawful cause, but we are not bound to ignore the fact that the people of the South have prejudices which form part of their nature, and which they cannot throw off without an effort of reason, or the tion arises, should we treat as absolute enemies all slower process of natural change. Now, the quesin the South who differ from us in opinion or prejudice, kill or banish them; or, should we give them time to think, and gradually change their conduct so as to conform to the new order of things, which is slowly and gradually creeping into their country? When men take arms to resist our rightful authority, we are compelled to use force, because all reason and argument cease when arms are resorted to. When the provisions, forage, horses, mules, wagons, etc., are used by our enemy, it is clearly our duty and right to take them, because otherwise they might be used against us.

In like manner, all houses left vacant by an inimical people are clearly our right, or such as are needed as store-houses, hospitals, and quarters. But a question arises as to dwellings used by women, children, remain in their houses and keep to their accustomed and non-combatants. So long as non-combatants business, their opinions and prejudices can in nowise influence the war, and therefore should not be noticed. But if any one comes out into the public streets and creates disorder, he or she should be punished, restrained, or banished, either to the rear

or front, as the officer in command adjudges. If the people, or any of them, keep up a correspondence

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« ZurückWeiter »