fection. I take this occasion to say that, in my opinion, the government cannot be too liberal in its appropriations for instruction and practice in this important branch, and for perfecting the arms which should be placed in the hands of the marksmen of the Army. The discipline and general condition of the troops, as reported to me, are satisfactory. The many improvements made of late in the matter of post schools, reading-rooms, lighting company quarters, &c., have all had a beneficial effect, and at no time within my recollection has the condition of the soldier been more satisfactory, or his mental, moral, and physical wants been given more intelligent consideration. Instruction in all the military branches is carried out, so far as the small garrisons at many of the posts will permit, and, notwithstanding some drawbacks, there has been improvement in this direction. It may be stated here that it is proposed, in the near future to discontinue several posts in the Department of the East (now occupied by one or two companies only), and transfer their garrisons to other posts; this, in the direction of economy, and the concentration of the troops in larger bodies. In accordance with instructions, this report and all of its inclosures are submitted in duplicate. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, The ADJUTANT-GENERAL, U. S. ARMY, Washington, D. C. P. S.-A photograph of the encampment at Yorktown is now in course of preparation, and when finished, it is my intention to forward copies of the same for file with this report. List of inclosures to annual report. 1. Report of inspector-general of division. 2. Report of inspector-general, Department of the East. 3. Report of judge-advocate of division. 4. Report of chief quartermaster of division. 5. Report of chief commissary of subsistence of division. 6. Report of medical director of division. 7. Report of chief paymaster of division, 8. Report of Capt. H. G. Litchfield, Second Artillery; on special duty in connection with rifle practice. 9. Report of commanding general, Department of the South. 10. Approximate return of State troops encamped at Yorktown, Va. 11. File of General Orders issued at Yorktown. 4 B. REPORT OF BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL HUNT. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Newport Barracks, Ky., September 30, 1881. SIR: I have the honor to submit a report of the condition and operations of the Military Department of the South, for the year commencing October 1, 1880. Inclosed is a chronological list of the principal movements of troops, and of events that have occurred during the year, marked A. During the months of May and June I inspected personally McPherson Barracks, Atlanta, Ga.; Charleston Barracks (late arsenal); the Citadel, and Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S. C.; Oglethorpe Barracks, Savannah, Ga.; Fort Marion and Saint Francis Barracks, Saint Augustine, Fla.; Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Key West Barracks; Fort Taylor and Fort Jefferson, Florida. Inclosed will be found the reports of the garrisoned posts within the department made by their respective commanding officers. As to those not garrisoned 1st. I found the arsenal grounds and buildings at Charleston, which have been turned over for educational purposes to the Rev. Dr. Porter's school, in excellent condition. The buildings are well cared for, are in admirable condition, and have been well adapted to the purpose for which they were transferred to the school. The grounds have been greatly improved and a thorough system of drainage commenced. The condition of the school, and the extent to which it has been and can be enlarged, afford ample proof that the same value of public lands and property could not have been more profitably devoted to the cause of education than this has been. The conditions upon which the transfer was made have been carefully and conscientiously fulfilled. The Citadel at Charleston is in rather a dilapidated condition, and although well cared for by Ordnance Sergeant McMahon, in charge, will continue to deteriorate if left ungarrisoned. Forts Moultrie and Sumter are in the hands of the engineers. The ordnance and ordnance stores formerly at the Citadel and arsenal have been transferred to Fort Moultrie, and are well cared for by Ordnance Sergeant Flood. It is much to be desired that additional grounds be acquired adjacent to Fort Moultrie, and barracks and quarters for a permanent peace garrison for Charleston Harbor be constructed thereon. 2d. Oglethorpe Barracks I found in very good condition; some of the buildings have been turned over to the engineers and are usefully occupied. The other buildings are well cared for by Ordnance Sergeant Campbell. A hurricane recently did much damage to the barracks and to the buildings at Fort Pulaski. The necessary steps have been taken to restore or repair them so far as the wants of the service require. 3d. Key West Barracks and Fort Taylor are in good condition and kept in good order. The garrison having been moved to Fort Brooke the barracks were placed under the charge of a keeper employed for the purpose. The insufficiency of the sum allotted for incidental expenses has compelled his discharge and replacement by a selected non-commissioned officer detailed from the garrison of Fort Brooke, although it is understood that there is yellow fever in Key West. Fort Jefferson, a dependence of Key West, is in much better order than I expected to find it. The quarters and barracks are sound and in good order, excepting that the ceiling has fallen in one or two sets of officers' quarters. The armament and large supply of ordnance stores are kept in excellent condition by the ordnance sergeant. At Saint Francis barracks I found the roof of the large building which furnishes quarters for all the officers so leaky as to endanger the building. It has been ordered to be new shingled. The cemetery is kept in good order. It contains the remains of all the officers and soldiers who died or were killed in the Florida war, whose bodies could be collected. The remains were buried under three large mounds of earth, and a monument erected, under the orders of Major-General Worth, at the close of the Florida war. Measures have been taken to have this made a national cemetery. At all the garrisoned posts I found the troops well instructed and in good discipline. In some cases the facilities for target practice are not good. This is especially the case as regards the field battery stationed at McPherson Barracks. I concur in the views of the commanding officer, Fifth Artillery, Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, as to the stationing of field batteries of instruction singly at the headquarters of regiments. It increases the expense of the arm, makes emulation impossible, and in many ways, in an actual condition, injures the tone and harmony of the service. The garrisons of Jackson Barracks and Fort Barrancas were removed in June at the approach of the yellow fever season to McPherson Barracks for the summer. McPherson Barracks, if the post is to be maintained, requires large repairs. Estimates have been forwarded with this view. They are hardly in condition to make troops comfortable in winter, and lie partly within the limits of the city of Atlanta, in a position very unfavorable for the health, morals, and discipline of troops. If a post is to be maintained at or near Atlanta a large space should be acquired and better buildings constructed. As a sanitarium it is doubtful if the public grounds at Mount Vernon, Ala., would not be better. Inclosed are the reports of the post commanders and chiefs of administrative departments serving at these headquarters, with a copy of the recapitulation of last monthly return of this command, to which I respectfully refer for more detailed information. I would respectfully, in closing, call attention to the fact that the Fifth Regiment of Artillery has occupied the Gulf stations for nearly six consecutive years, the ordinary tour being three, and that since the close of the war, in 1865, it has spent ten years out of the sixteen in the Southern States. The result has told on the health and condition of the officers, men, and their families. In another respect it has caused great hardship. The frequent movements to which the troops have been subjected, not only from ordinary calls of service, but on account of sickly seasons, has, by the great expense they impose, impoverished officers and men having families. I respectfully call attention to this subject, and recommend as a matter of justice the transfer of the regiment to a northern station. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, HENRY J. HUNT, Brevet Brig. General, Commanding. ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL, Division of the Atlantic, Governor's Island, New York Harbor. 5.-REPORT OF MAJOR-GENERAL MCDOWELL. HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE PACIFIC AND DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., O tober 14, 1881. SIR: I have the honor to report as follows of the serv.com this division since the last annual report of October 6, 1880: DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA. Movement of troops. September, 1880.-Captain Wagner, First Cavalry, with detachment of Troop C, First Cavalry, on scout from Fort Bidwell, Cal., to vicinity of Stein's Mountain, Oregon, September 7 to 17, inclusive. marched, 273 miles. Distance Second Lieut. J. A. Hutton, Eighth Infantry, with detachment of 12 enlisted men, Troop G, First Cavalry, on scout from Fort McDermit, Nev., to Three Forks of Owyhee River, Oregon, September 1 to 9. Distance marched, 120 miles. October, 1880.-A party of 2 non-commissioned officers and 13 privates, Troop G, First Cavalry, on scout from Fort McDermit, Nev., to Granite Mountains, near Camp McGarry, Nev., from October 5 to 15. Distance marched, 180 miles. November, 1880.-Second Lieut. J. Pitcher, First Cavalry, with detachment of Troop G, First Cavalry, on scout from Fort McDermit, Nev., to Three Forks of Owyhee River, Oregon, from November 9 to 19. Camped for several days, and hunted over country in all directions. Distance marched, 138 miles. July, 1881.-Second Lieut. J. Pitcher, First Cavalry, with detachment of 22 enlisted men, Troop G, First Cavalry, on scout from Fort McDermit, Nev., from June 22 to July 1, inclusive, in vicinity of King River Valley, Oregon. Rumored Indian troubles in that region pronounced false. Distance marched, 175 miles. Battery K, Fourth Artillery, transferred from Fort Point, Cal., to Fort Canby, W. T., left Department of California, en route for latter post, July 6. Battery G, Fourth Artillery, transferred from Fort Canby, Department of the Columbia, arrived and took station at Alcatraz Island, Cal., July 9. Battery L, Fourth Artillery, transferred from Alcatraz Island, Cal., arrived and took station at Fort Point, Cal., July 9. Battery F, Fourth Artillery, transferred from Fort Point, San José, Cal., to Fort Canby, W. T., left Department of California, en route for latter post, July 15. Battery M, Fourth Artillery, transferred from Fort Canby, W. T., arrived and took station at Fort Point San José, Cal., July 16. Capt. R. F. Bernard, First Cavalry, with Second Lieut. J. Pitcher, First Cavalry, and 25 enlisted men, Troop G, First Cavalry, on scout through country north of Fort McDermit, Nev., from July 12 to 28. Distance marched, 220 miles. August, 1881.-Company H, Eighth Infantry, transferred from Angel Island, Cal., July 21, arrived and took station at Fort Bidwell, Cal., August 3. Distance marched from Reno, Nev., on Central Pacific Railroad, 205 miles. Company D, Eighth Infantry, transferred from Fort Bidwell, Cal., August 5, arrived and took station at Angel Island, Cal., August 15. Distance marched, 205 miles. September, 1881.-Troop G, First Cavalry, left its station, Fort McDermit, Nev., for field service against hostile Apaches in Department of Arizona, September 5. Troop I, First Cavalry, left its station, Fort Halleck, Nev., for field service against hostile Apaches in Department of Arizona, September 6. A detachment of Company G, Eighth Infantry, left Fort Halleck, Nev., September 4, and arrived and took temporary station at Fort McDermit, Nev., September 8. Companies B and K, Eighth Infantry, from Benicia Barracks, and Companies C, D, and F, Eighth Infantry, from Angel Island, Cal., left under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkins, Eighth Infantry, for field service against hostile Apaches in Department of Arizona, September 5. A detachment of 10 enlisted men, Battery A, Fourth Artillery, under command of First Lieut. Joseph Garrard, Fourth Artillery, left Fort Point, Cal., September 12, to take temporary station at Fort Yuma, Cal. Troop C, First Cavalry, left its station, Fort Bidwell, Cal., for field service against hostile Apaches in Department of Arizona, September 15. Marched to Reno, Nev., 205 miles, thence by railroad to Lathrop, Cal., where it arrived September 22, and remained in camp till the 3d of October, when it was sent to Willcox Station in Arizona, on the application of the department commander. Troop M, First Cavalry, brought into the department in expectation it might be needed in Arizona, left its post at Walla Walla, W. T., on the 6th September, came by rail to Roseburg, thence marched to Redding, thence by rail to Lathrop, where it arrived on the 22d September and remained till the 3d October, when, together with Troop C, it was sent to Arizona, on the application of the department commander. October 3, 1881.-Batteries C and L, Fourth Artillery, Fort Point, and Battery H, same regiment, Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., were sent to Willcox Station, A. T., by special train, on the application of the depart ment commander. On account of economy and efficiency I had hoped to be able to dispense with the post of Fort McDermit, but was unable to do so, because of the representation both of the Indians and whites. I again ask attention to the recommendation in my former report that Fort Independence, which has been abandoned as a military station, be sold. It is now in the charge of an agent of the quartermaster's depart ment, is no longer needed for military purposes, and the reservation and buildings should be sold, both as a matter of economy to the military service and of benefit to the settlers. I send herewith, marked D, a report of the senior inspector of his inspection of Fort Gaston, and of a report sent in by the post commander of the Indians on the Klamath reservation near the post. The thorough repairs and changes in quarters, barracks, stables, and store-rooms at the posts of Fort Point, Presidio, Fort Point San José, Alcatraz and Angel Islands, are nearly completed, and it is hoped will be so entirely by the end of the fiscal year. The buildings at Yerba Buena will soon be removed to the other posts, as authorized by the Secretary of War. I forward herewith, in duplicate, the following annual reports concerning this department and the Division of the Pacific: 1st. Report of Deputy Quartermaster-General Rufus Saxton, chief quartermaster of the department and division. 2d. Report of Assistant Commissary-General C. L. Kilburn, chief commissary of subsistence of the department and division. 3d. Report of Deputy Paymaster-General Rodney Smith, chief paymaster of the department and division. 4th. Report of Surgeon Charles Sutherland, medical director of the department and division. 5th. Report of Assistant Inspector-General J. C. Breckinridge, inspector-general of the department and division. 6th. Report of Capt. William A. Jones, Engineer Corps, engineer officer of the department and division. |