of Congress, in agreeing upon a plan of reorganization of the Army suitable to our present require ments, and the urgent necessity for early action, I am induced to present the matter to you officially, and to ask the attention of Congress to it, believing that when they have the matter fairly before them, they will do what should be done speedily. At the present time settlements are springing up with unusual rapidity in the district of country be tween the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, where heretofore the Indians were left in undisputed possession. Emigrants are pushing to those settlements and to the gold-fields of the Rocky Mountains by every available highway. The people flocking to those regions are citizens of the United States and entitled to the protection of the Government. They are developing the resources of the country to its great advantage, thus making it our interest as well as our duty to give them military protection. This makes a much greater force west of the Missis sippi necessary than was ever heretofore required. A small military force is required in all the States lately in rebellion, and it cannot be foreseen that this force will not be required for some time to come. It is to be hoped that this force will not be necessary to enforce the laws, either State or national. But the difference of sentiment engendered by the great war which has raged for four years, will make the presence of a military force necessary to give a feeling of security to the people; all classes disposed to obey the laws of the country will feel this alike. To maintain order, the Government has been compelled to retain volunteers. All white volunteers have become dissatisfied, and claim that the contract with them has been violated, by retaining them after the war was over. By reason of dissatisfaction they are no longer of use, and might as well be discharged The colored volunteer has equal right to claim his discharge, but as yet he has not done so. How long will existing laws authorize the retention of this force, even if they are content to remain? at once. for the reorganization of the Army which, in my opin The United States Senate passed promptly a bill ion, is as free from objection as any great measure could possibly be, and it would supply the minimum requisite force. It gives but a few thousand additional men over the present organization, but gives a large number of additional batteries and companies. The public service, guarding routes of travel over the plains, and giving protection to the Southern States, demands the occupation of a great number of posts. For many of them a small company is just as efficient as one with more men in it would be. The bill before Congress, or the one that has passed the Senate, gives increased number of rank and file of each company. It is an exceedingly appropriate measure in this particular, for it provides for the increase when occasion requires more men. The company the smallest unit of an organization that can be used without materially injuring discipline and efficiency. is The belief that Congress would act promptly on this matter, if their attention were called to it, has induced me to respectfully ask your attention to it. If you agree with me in this matter, I would also ask, if you deem it proper, that this, with such indorsement as you may be pleased to make, be laid before Congress through the Speaker of the House. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. Finally, at a late hour of the session, a committee of conference was appointed to reconcile the differences between the two bills. The chief struggle was with regard to the number of Veteran Reserve regiments to be incorporated in the army. Mr. Schenck having yielded this point, the committee agreed upon the Senate bill, with some amendments, which immediately passed both Houses almost unanimously, and on July 28, 1866, became a law. Its main features may be thus recapitulated: The peace establishment of the country will consist of five regiments of artillery, ten of cavalry, and fortyfive of infantry. The artillery regiments are to have the same organization as was prescribed by law for the fifth regiment of that arm in 1861. The cavalry regiments are to consist of the six previously in the service, of twelve companies each, with four new regiments, similarly organized, of which two are to be composed of colored men; the original vacancies in the grades of first and second lieutenant to be filled by selection from among the officers and soldiers of volunteer cavalry, and two-thirds of the original vacancies in the higher grades from officers of volunteer cavalry, and one-third from officers of the regular Army, all of whom have served two years in the field during the war, and been distinguished for capacity and good conduct. The President is authorized, at his discretion, to arm and drill any portion of the cavalry force as infantry or dismounted cavalry. The forty-five regiments of infantry are to consist of the first ten regiments, of ten companies each, now in the service; of twentyformed by adding two companies to each batseven regiments, of ten companies each, to bo talion of the remaining nine three-battalion regiments; and of eight new regiments, of ten companies each, four of which are to be comthe grade of first and second lieutenants are to posed of colored men, and four to be called the Veteran Reserve Corps. Original vacancies in be filled by selection from among the officers and soldiers of volunteers; and of those occurring officers of volunteers, and half from officers of in the higher grades, half are to be filled from the regular Army, all of whom must have served two years during the war, and been distin guished for capacity and good conduct. The Veteran Reserve Corps are to be officered by appointment from officers and soldiers of volunteers or the regular Army, who have been wounded in the service, but are nevertheless competent for garrison or similiar duty. All persons receiving appointment in any branch of the service must have previously passed a satisfactory examination before a board of officers, convened under the direction of the Secretary of War, and such appointments are to be without regard to previous rank. Persons who have served in any capacity under the Confederate Government are precluded from holding any office or position in the Army of the United States. The infantry companies are to have a maximum strength of one hundred men, and a minimum strength of fifty men, and the organization, with respect to officers, will be similar to that of the first ten regiments of infantry in the service. The number of bands in the army is reduced to fifteen, to be assigned to brigades in time of war, and in time of peace to assembled brigades, or to forts or posts at which the largest number of troops shall be ordinarily stationed. Enlistments into the cavalry must be for the term of five years, and into the artillery and infantry for three years, and recruits may be enlisted into the Veteran Reserve Corps from men who have been wounded in the military service of the country, provided they are found to be fitted for garrison or other light duty, to which, when enlisted, they are to be assigned. The general officers of the Army are to comprise one general, one lieutenant-general, five major-generals, and ten brigadier-generals, who are entitled to the same pay, emoluments, and staff as heretofore provided by law. The military establishment of the country, as reorganized by the act of July 28, 1866, will thus consist of ten regiments, or one hundred and twenty companies, of cavalry, five regiments, or sixty companies, of artillery, and forty-five regiments, or four hundred and fifty companies, of infantry. Should all the companies be filled to their maximum strength of one hundred men, the army would comprise a total of nearly 76,000 men, rank and file, of all arms, who may be thus classed: Artillery. Cavalry.. Infantry. Total.... were enlisted for the regular Army, and that at the latter date its strength was 38,545 men. This is exclusive of one thousand Indian scouts, authorized by the act of July 28, 1866, of whom six hundred have been assigned to Lieut.-General Sherman, for his Division of the Missouri, two hundred to Maj.-General Halleck for the Division of the Pacific, and two hundred to Maj.-General Sheridan for the Department of the Gulf. As soon as the ranks of the Army are well filled, it is intended to place restrictions upon the recruiting service, in order to diminish the number of men received, so that it will correspond to the number required to keep up the strength of the regiments as they become reduced by casualties or other causes. This will be done by raising the standard of qualifications as to height, age, etc., which will at the same time improve the personnel of the army. The following table gives the commanding officers of the new regiments of cavalry, infantry, and Veteran Reserve Corps, so far as appointed at the close of 1866: 7,000 Sth.. 66 9th.. 55,000 10th.. 11th.. Infantry. 76,000 12th.. 13th.. The present strength of companies has been fixed at sixty-four privates for artillery, cavalry, and infantry, and one hundred and twenty-two privates for light batteries of artillery, making an aggregate strength of 54,302 men. From the annual report of the Secretary of War, it appears that at the close of 1866, the two new white regiments of cavalry were recruited, or nearly recruited, and that, of the fifty-four companies required to convert into regiments the single battalions of the nine three-battalion regiments, authorized by the act of 1861, fortyeight had been completed and sent to their regiments. The four Veteran Reserve regiments were on active duty, and measures had been taken to recruit the colored regiments from the colored volunteers still in the service. During the war the volunteer service was so much more popular than the regular Army, that it was found impossible to fill up the ranks of the latter to the extent authorized by law. Soon after the general disbandment of volunteers commenced, in the summer of 1865, recruiting for the regulars became more successful, and since the passage of the act of July 28, 1866, has proceeded so satisfactorily that there seems no reason to doubt that the maximum strength of 54,302 men, now fixed upon, will be reached before the summer of 1867. The whole subject of recruiting for the regular Army, and disbanding volunteers, is by law placed under the supervision of the Adjutant-General's office. By the report of this officer it appears that from October 1, 1865, to October 1, 1866, 36,674 recruits 14th.. 15th.. 16th.. 17th.. 18th.. 19th.. 20th.. 66 21st. 22d... Colonels. Andrew J. Smith. Edward Hatch. Benjamin H. Grierson. Wm. S. Ketchum. C. C. Augur. Isaac V. D. Reeve. John D. Stevenson. 28th.. 29th.. 30th.. 81st.. 82d... 33d... 34th.. 35th.. 36th: 37th.. 36th.. 40th.. 39th.. 41st.. 42d... 48d... 44th.. 45th.. A. V. Kautz (Lieut.-Col.). Charles Griffin. John Gibbon. George W. Getty. Joseph A. Mower. Nelson A. Mills. Geo. W. Schofield (Major). "(Vet. Res.). Daniel E. Sickles. 66 John C. Robinson. Thos. G. Pitcher. Wager Swayne. By General Orders, No. 95, the two additional regiments of cavalry composed of white men, are to be known as the 7th and 8th, and those composed of colored men as the 9th and 10th. The ten regiments of infantry in the service at the commencement of the war retain their old designations. The first battalions of the nine three-battalion regiments, organized in 1861, retain the designation of the regiments to which they belonged, and under the new organization will be known as the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th regiments of infantry. The second battalions of the three-battalion regiments become respectively the 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th regiments of infantry; and the third battalions the 29th, 30th, 31st, 32d, 33d, 34th, 35th, 36th, and 37th regiments of infantry. The four regiments to be composed of colored men will be designated the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st regiments of infantry. The remaining four regiments will be designated the 42d, 43d, 44th, and 45th regiments of infantry, Veteran Reserve Corps, and will be regarded as a distinct organization, in which promotions will be regulated accordingly. In the following table will be found a list of the several military departments into which the country has been divided, with the troops assigned to each: 1. The Department of the East, Major-General George G. Meade to command, to embrace the New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Fort Delaware. Headquarters at Philadelphia. First regiment of artillery, 10 companies; Third regiment of artillery, 10 companies; Fourth regiment of artillery, 3 companies; Fourth regiment of infantry, 7 companies; Forty-second regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 2. The Department of the Lakes, Brigadier and Brevet Major General Joseph Hooker to command, to embrace the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Headquarters at Detroit. Fourth regiment of artillery, 1 light battery; Fourth regiment of infantry, 3 companies; Forty-third regiment of infantry, Veteran Reserves, 10 companies. 3. The Department of Washington, Brigadier and Brevet Major General E. R. S. Canby to command, to embrace the District of Columbia, Alexandria and Fairfax Counties, Virginia, and the States of Maryland and Delaware, except Fort Delaware. Headquarters at Washington. Fifth regiment of cavalry, 3 companies; Fourth regiment of artillery, 7 companies; Twelfth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirtieth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Fortieth regiment of infantry, recruiting in Washington; Forty-fourth regiment of infantry, Veteran Reserves, 10 companies. 4. The Department of the Potomac, Brigadier and Brevet Major General John M. Schofield to command, to embrace the States of Virginia, except Alexandria and Fairfax Counties, and West Virginia. Headquarters at Richmond. Fifth regiment of cavalry, 1 company; Fifth regiment of artillery, 1 light battery and 4 companies; Eleventh regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twentieth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-first regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-ninth regiment of infantry, 10 companies. VOL. VI.-3 5. The Department of the South, MajorGeneral Daniel E. Sickles to command, to embrace the States of North and South Carolina. Headquarters at Charleston. Fifth regiment of cavalry, 4 companies; Third regiment of artillery, 1 light battery; Sixth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Eighth regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 6. The Department of the Tennessee, Major-General George H. Thomas to command, to embrace the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Headquar ters at Louisville. Fifth regiment of cavalry, 4 companies; Second regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Fifteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Sixteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-fourth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-fifth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-third regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-fourth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Forty-fifth regiment of infantry, Veteran Reserves, 10 companies. 7. The Department of the Gulf, MajorGeneral Philip H. Sheridan to command, to embrace the States of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Headquarters at New Orleans. Fourth regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Sixth regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Ninth regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; First regiment of artillery, 2 light batteries; Fifth regiment of artillery, 6 companies; First regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Seventh regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Seventeenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-sixth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-fifth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-ninth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Forty-first regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 8. The Department of the Arkansas, Brigadier and Brevet Major General E. O. C. Ord to command, to embrace the State of Arkansas and Indian Territory west. Headquarters at Little Rock. Fifth regiment of artillery, 1 light battery; Nineteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-eighth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-seventh regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 9. The Department of the Missouri, MajorGeneral Winfield S. Hancock to command, to embrace the States of Missouri and Kansas, and the Territories of Colorado and New Mexico. Headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. Second regiment of cavalry, 2 companies; Third regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Seventh regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Fourth regiment of artillery, 1 light battery; Third regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Fifth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Tenth regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Thirty-eighth regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 10. The Department of the Platte, Brigadier and Brevet Major General Philip St. George Cooke to command, to embrace the State of Iowa, the Territories of Nebraska and Utah, so much of Dakota as lies west of the 104th meridian, and so much of Montana as lies contiguous to the new road from Fort Laramie to Virginia City, Montana. Headquarters at Omaha. Second regiment of cavalry, 10 companies; Third regiment of artillery, 1 light battery; Thirteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Eighteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-seventh regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-sixth regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 11. The Department of Dakota, Brigadier and Brevet Major General A. H. Terry to command, to embrace the State of Minnesota and all the Territories of Dakota and Montana not embraced in the Department of the Platte. Headquarters at Fort Snelling. Tenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Twenty-second regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirty-first regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 12. The Department of California, Brig. adier and Brevet Major General Irvin McDowell to command, to embrace the States of California and Nevada, and the Territory of Arizona. Headquarters at San Francisco. First regiment of cavalry, 8 companies; Eighth regiment of cavalry, 12 companies; Second regiment of artillery, 2 light batteries and 6 companies; Ninth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Fourteenth regiment of infantry, 10 companies; Thirtysecond regiment of infantry, 10 companies. 13. The Department of the Columbia, Major-General Frederick Steele to command, to embrace the State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington and Idaho. Headquarters at Portland. First regiment of cavalry, 4 companies; Second regiment of artillery, 4 companies; Twenty-third regiment of infantry, 10 companies. The Departments of the Arkansas, the Missouri, the Platte, and Dakota constitute the Military Division of the Missouri, of which Lieu tenant-General W. T. Sherman has command, with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. The Departments of California and the Columbia, constitute the Military Division of the Pacific, of which Major-General H. W. Halleck has command, with headquarters at San Francisco. The fifteen military bands provided for by the act of July 28, 1866, have been assigned as follows: West Point, New York; Fort Columbus, New York harbor; Fort Adams, Rhode Island; Richmond, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Jefferson Barracks, Missouri; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Little Rock, Arkansas; New Orleans, Louisiana; San Antonio, Texas; Harbor of San Francisco, California; Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory; Fort Monroe, Va. The Thirty-ninth Congress passed an act reviving the grade of "General of the Army of the United States," to be filled, by appointment by the President, "from among those officers in the military service of the United States most distinguished for courage, skill, and ability." It was also provided that whenever, after such appointment, the office should become vacant, the act should cease to be in force. The President nominated for General, Lieutenant-General Grant, and to fill the vacant lieutenant-generalship, Major-General W. T. Sherman. Both nominations were promptly confirmed by the Senate toward the close of the first session. The principal movements of troops during the year have been in Texas, on the Mexican and Canadian frontiers, and in the Territories. General Grant, in his annual report, states that "it has been deemed necessary to keep a military force in all the lately rebellious States, to insure the execution of law, and to protect life and property against the acts of those who, as yet, will acknowledge no law but force. This class has proved to be much smaller than could have been expected after such a conflict. It has, however, been sufficiently formidable to justify the course which has been pursued." Military movements have also been directed with a view to the protection of emigrants, on their way to the more distant Territories, against attacks by hostile Indians, which have somewhat diminished with the expiration of the rebellion. But with a frontier constantly extending and encroaching upon the hunting-grounds of the Indian, hostilities must frequently occur. To meet these, and to protect the emigrant on his way to the mountain Territories, General Grant reports that troops have been distributed over a wide area of the western frontier. places are occupied by more than two, and many by but a single company. During the summer of 1866, inspections were made by Generals Sherman, Pope, Ingalls, Sackett, and Babcock, with a view to determine the proper places to occupy for the protection of travel and settlements, and the most economical method of furnishing supplies. In the course of 1867 permanent buildings will have to be erected on these sites. Few The total estimate of the Secretary of War for military appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, is $25,205,669.60, which is less by $8,608,792.23 than the appropriation required for the previous year. The disbursements of the Paymaster-General during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, were $259,374,317, of which $248,943,313 were paid to disbanded volunteers, and $10,431,004 to the Army and the Military Academy. In back and extra pay and in bounties the Department disbursed $7,662,736, and on Treasury certificates for arrears to dead soldiers, etc., $16,189.247. Among the charges entailed upon the Department were those growing out of an act passed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, giving three months' pay proper to all officers of volunteers who were in the service on March 3, 1865, and whose resignations were presented and accepted, or who were mustered out at their own request, or otherwise honorably discharged from the service after April 9, 1865. proper of a colonel of infantry is $95, of a The pay Total........ .$205,272,324 00 30,250,010 00 7,662,736 00 16,189,247 00 $259,374,317 00 The estimated appropriations of the pay department amount to $17,728,560 for pay of the Army for the next fiscal year. Early in the first session of the last Congress a bill was introduced to pay a bounty to the volunteers of 1861 and 1862 equal to the highest bounty paid to the volunteers of 1863 and 1864, equalizing the bounty according to the time of service; to pay three-months men a bounty of $100, deducting from said bounty any sum heretofore paid; and to pay $33.33 to the one-year men, to complete the payment of the $100 promised them. As the sum required for this equalization of bounties would, at a moderate computation, considerably exceed $200,000,000, which, in the then embarrassed financial condition of the country, could be illspared from the national Treasury, the project was strenuously opposed, and failed to become a law in the shape in which it was originally proposed. Its friends succeeded, however, in engrafting it, in a very modified form, upon the Civil Appropriation Bill, in which connection it was passed by Congress on the last day of the session. The sections of the bill relating to bounties enact that every soldier who enlisted after the 19th of April, 1861, for a period not less than three years, and who, after having served his time of enlistment, has been honorably discharged, and who has received, or is entitled to receive, from the United States, under existing laws, a bounty of one hundred dollars, and no more; and every such soldier honorably discharged on account of wounds, and the widow, minor children, or parents of such soldiers who died in service, or from disease or Wounds contracted in the service in the line of duty, shall be paid an additional bounty of one hundred dollars. The soldiers who enlisted for two years, and who are entitled to a Government bounty of fifty dollars, under existing laws, are to get, under the like conditions, an additional bounty of fifty dollars. Although doubts were entertained whether, in consequence of defective wording of these sections, the legislation respecting the equalization of bounties was not inoperative, a board of officers was appointed by the War Department to prepare rules and regulations for the payment of the authorized bounties. But up to October 20, 1866, no payments of the extra bounty had been made. The Paymaster-General says that the muster and pay rolls, "already much worn and defaced, would be reduced to illegible shreds before a tithe of the cases arising under this law could be disposed of, if taken up separately." It is therefore proposed to classify the claims filed, by regiments and battalions. This plan, though imposing delay at the outset, will prove in the end the quickest and best. The payment, however, will not begin till the six months' limitation has passed. The disbursements will amount to nearly $80,000,000, about a third of the sum contemplated by the original bill, and will be divided among upward of a million persons. To the same board the subject of bounties to colored soldiers was also referred, with a view to provide additional checks against the demands of fraudulent assignees, to secure the bounty to the rightful claimants, and to protect the Treasury against frauds. The grand aggregate of individuals on the pension-rolls of the United States was, on June 30, 1866, 126,722, of whom 123,577 were army invalids or their widows or other representatives. Nearly ninety per cent. of this number, comprising all classes of pensioners, have arisen out of the late war. The remainder now on the rolls, but rapidly dropping away, are from the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the various Indian wars. But one Revolutionary pensioner now remains, Samuel Downing, of Edinburgh, Saratoga County, N. Y., who was a native of, and enlisted from New Hampshire, and is now over a hundred years old. There are, however, still on the pension-rolls 931 widows of revolutionary soldiers, of whom only two were married previous to the termination of the War of Independence. The aggregate of annual pension money due for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, was $11,674,474.13. The Commissioner of Pensions says: "In view of the large number of applications which continues to be received, on account of casualties in the late war, it is manifest that the aggregate annual amount of pensions will continue to swell for some years to come." He also says that the $11,674,474.31 requisite to pay the 126,722 now on the rolls will, for the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1867, be increased to a sum exceeding $33,000,000. This is owing partly to the law of last session increasing the rate of pension. The estimated amount requisite to pay pensions the next fiscal year is more |