205. THERE are a number of special appointments or positions, for which men are enlisted inthe service, that differ in their duties from those of soldiers of the line, viz.:—

206. When men are enlisted for any of the above positions, and mustered into service as such, they cannot be reduced to private soldiers. If they have been enlisted as soldiers and promoted to these positions, they may by sentence of court-martial be reduced.

207. Men enlisted as above, although subject to the Rules and Articles of War, and to obedience to orders and regulations, cannot be assigned to other than their legitimate duties, except in cases of manifest necessity, or when unemployed at their legitimate duties for necessary reasons. Some are part of the legal organization of regiments, whilst others exist only by special enactment of Congress. A brief summary of their duties will be given.

209. General Order No. 259, 1863, provides that he shall be selected by a board of three regimental officers next in rank to the commanding officer, and his name transmitted to the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau, and by him submitted to the Secretary of War for appointment. A record of all the appointments is kept in the Adjutant-General’s Office.

210. It would seem, therefore, that he is not to be regarded as an enlisted man, but has all the privileges of an appointment, and can therefore resign his position on the approval of the appointing power. His resignation would therefore be acted on in the same manner as that of an officer There is, however, very little legislation upon his duties; he is allowed seventy-five dollars per month, but there is no provision for rations, or any other allowances.

211. His duties are implied to be the care and cure of sick and disabled horses in his regiment. A considerable education is therefore requisite, involving a knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the horse, a knowledge of chemistry sufficient to understand the character and use of the chemicals and medicines used in the treatment of horses, besides a practical knowledge and experience in the diseases to which horses are subject.

212. His duties also involve the charge of the horse-medicines allowed. These are furnished by the Quartermaster’s Department. He must, therefore, obtain them from the regimental quartermaster, to whom he renders an account of this expenditure, as they are accounted for on his property return, with other quartermaster’s property. 

214. They are required to be young men of liberal education, students of medicine, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three, who have been reading medicine for two years, and have attended at least one course of lectures in a medical college.

215. Their duties are to act as dressers in the general hospitals, and as ambulance attendants in the field, under the direction and control of the medical officers alone.

216. On the fifteenth day of the last month of their service, the near approach of their discharge shall be reported to the Surgeon-General, in order, if desired, that they may be relieved by another detail of applicants.

217. It would seem, in the absence of any published regulations, that applicants for the Medical Cadet Corps should apply to the Surgeon-General at Washington, from whence they would be informed where to report for examination and enlistment.

219. The law with regard to drum-majors is obscure, as it allows in the same section only the pay of sergeant of cavalry, seventeen dollars; yet no drum-majors are allowed or recognized by law except in the infantry regiments of the new army, which by the same law provides that their pay shall be that of second lieutenant of infantry, implying, however, that the drum-major shall also be the leader of the band.

220. The duties of a drum-major are not prescribed by law or regulations, and are only deduced by custom. He performs the same duties with reference to the band that the first sergeant does in relation to the company. He parades the band at roll-call and calls the roll, superintends the police of their quarters, makes out the provision returns, and attends to the drawing of rations and other issues to the band.

221. He has the immediate care of the public property in use by the band. He is under the orders and instructions of the adjutant of the regiment. He linus and instructs the band in their military duties; and the company musicians are usually under his (barge and instruction.

222. As leader of the band, he would in addition have charge of the instruction of the musicians, the arranging of the music, and the selection. 

224. The Act of July 5,1838, section 16, allows the chief musician seventeen dollars per month, whilst section 4, Act July 29, 1861, provides that bands shall be paid as follows: one-fourth of the twenty-four shall receive the pay of sergeants of engineers, thirty-four dollars, one-fourth the pay of corporals of engineers, twenty dollars, and one-half the pay of privates of engineers of the first class, seventeen dollars.

225. As the principal musicians are in addition to the foregoing, it follows that they get no more than the lowest class of musicians. The leader of the band, by the 4th section of the above Act, is entitled to the pay and emoluments of a second lieutenant of infantry: yet there are no leaders authorized, except in the nine new regiments of infantry. It will be seen, therefore, that the foregoing laws are quite incongruous.

227. The leader of the band is charged with the instruction of the band and the selection and arrangement of the music. He is also charged, in the absence of a drum-major, with the duties usually assigned to him. Like the drum-major, he receives his orders and instructions from the adjutant of the regiment, or, as leader of a brigade band, from the adjutant-general of the brigade.

229. The law allows a band to each of the new regiments of artillery and infantry. The bands are authorized to have not more than twenty-four musicians; and in the old regiments of infantry they are by the War Department limited to sixteen. The drum-majors and principal musicians are not included in this allowance for the band, nor are the company musicians. Cavalry regiments are not authorized to have bands.

230. The Act of June 20, 1864, fixes the pay of the principal musicians at twenty-two dollars per month, and of the other musicians at sixteen, but fails to state what proportion shall be principal musicians. The leaders in the bands of regular regiments, where no leader is authorized, usually are remunerated out of the regimental fund, or by contributions.

231. Each brigade of volunteers is allowed a band of sixteen musicians, and a leader at seventy-five dollars per month. The law is not clear as to whether the leader is one of the sixteen or in addition to them. These bands receive the same pay that the regular regiments do.

233. They are, for the time-being, dropped from the company returns and rolls, and are mustered on the staff roll. One of the principal musicians can be used as leader of the band, who is remunerated the same as the musicians.

235. In the cavalry regiments the trumpeters are instructed by the chief trumpeter. There is no provision for an instructor of music in the four old artillery regiments. In batteries and companies of light artillery, the musicians are instructed as buglers. The companies of artillery equipped as infantry have, like infantry, a drummer and fifer.

236. Musicians of infantry, artillery, and engineers have no arms, except a musician’s sword, issued to them. The trumpeters have sabres and pistols. They take charge of the instruments used by them, and are responsible for them. They are not put on the ordinary duty of soldiers, but are liable for fatigue duties and are used as orderlies.

237. They take their turns at the guard-house for sounding the calls. When the companies of the regiment are together, the musicians of each company are united for the purpose of instruction and exercise. When a company, however, is detached, the musicians that belong to it go with it.

238. On the march, at drills or parades, all the musicians are united in a body. They draw their rations and mess with their companies. The principal musician or chief trumpeter keeps the roster and makes the details; and they are not under the first sergeant’s orders, except when acting with the company.

240. It has been the practice of the service to enlist boys under eighteen as musicians and trumpeters for companies, where they show a musical capacity. The consent of the parent or guardian is necessary to legalize the enlistment. They are generally collected at depots, and instructed in music before they are assigned to regiments and companies. Boys are allowed the same pay, clothing, and rations as men in the same capacity.

242. He keeps the roster, and makes the details from the trumpeters for orderlies, guard, fatigue, and other duties.

244. He takes his instructions from the commanding officer of the regiment, and should attend to the repairs of the horse-equipments of the field, staff and band, and see that the company saddlers perform properly their duties in the companies.

247. The following are the Regulations governing the appointment and duties of ordnance sergeant :—

132. Captains will report to their colonels such sergeants as, by their conduct and service, merit such appointment, setting forth the description, length of service of the sergeant, the portion of his service he was a noncommissioned officer, his general character as to fidelity and sobriety, his qualifications as a clerk, and his fitness for the duties to be performed by an ordnance sergeant. These reports will be forwarded to the Adjutant-General, to be laid before the Secretary of War, with an application in the following form:— HEAD-QUARTERS, ETC.

‘133. When a company is detached from the headquarters of the regiment, the reports of the commanding officer in this matter will pass to the regimental headquarters through the commanding officer of the post or detachment, and be accompanied by his opinion as to the fitness of the candidate.

"134. Ordnance sergeants will be assigned to posts when appointed, and are not to be transferred to other stations, except by orders from the Adjutant-General’s Office.

"135. At the expiration of their term of service, ordnance sergeants may be re-enlisted, provided they shall have conducted themselves in a becoming manner, and performed their duties to the satisfaction of the commanding officer. If the commanding officer, however, shall not think proper to re-enlist the ordnance sergeant of his post, he will communicate to the Adjutant-General his reasons for declining to re-enlist him, in time to receive the decision of the War Department before the sergeant may lawfully claim to re-enlist.

"136. The officers interested must be aware, from the nature of the duties assigned to ordnance sergeants, that the judicious selection of them is of no small importance to the interests of the service; and that while the law contemplates, in the appointment of these non-commis sioned officers, the better preservation of the ordnance and ordnance stores in deposit in the several forts, there is the further motive of offering a reward to those faithful and well-tried sergeants who have long served their country, and of thus giving encouragement to the soldier in the ranks to emulate them in conduct, and thereby secure substantial promotion. Colonels and captains cannot, therefore, be too particular in investigating the characters of the candidates, and in giving their testimony as to their merits.

"137. The appointment and removal of ordnance sergeants, stationed at military posts, in pursuance of the above provisions of law, shall be reported by the Adjutant-General to the Chief of the Ordnance Department.

"138. When a non-commissioned officer receives the appointment of ordnance sergeant, he shall be dropped from the rolls of the regiment or company in which he may be serving at the time.

"139. The duty of ordnance sergeants relates to the care of the ordnance, arms, ammunition and other military stores at the post to which they may be attached, under the direction of the commanding officer, and according to the regulations of the Ordnance Department.

"140. If a post be evacuated, the ordnance sergeant shall remain on duty at the station, under the direction of the Chief of the Ordnance Department, in charge of the ordnance and ordnance stores, and of such other public property as is not in charge of some officer or agent of other departments; for which ordnance stores and other property he will account to the chiefs of the proper departments until otherwise directed.

"141. An ordnance sergeant in charge of ordnance stores at a post where there is no commissioned officer shall be held responsible for the safe-keeping of the property, and he shall he governed by the regulations of the Ordnance Department in making issues of the same, and in preparing and furnishing the requisite returns. If the means at his disposal are not sufficient for the preservation of the property, he shall report the circumstances to the Chief of the Ordnance Department.

"142. Ordnance Sergeants are to be considered as belonging to the non-commissioned staff of the post, under the orders of the commanding officer. They are to wear the uniform of the Ordnance Department, with the distinctive badges prescribed for the non-commissioned staff of regiments of artillery; and they are to appear under arms with the troops at all reviews and inspections, monthly and weekly.

"143. When serving at any post which may he the headquarters of a regiment, ordnance sergeants shall be reported by name on the post returns, and mustered with the non-commissioned staff of the regiment; and at all other posts they shall be mustered and reported in some company stationed at the post at which they serve; be paid on the muster-roll, and be charged with the clothing and all other supplies previously received from any officer, or subsequently issued to them by the commanding officer of the company for the time-being. Whenever the company rosy be ordered from the post, the ordnance sergeant will Iii’ transferred to the rolls of any remaining company, by The order of the commanding officer of the post.

"144. In the event of the troops being all withdrawn from a post at which there is an ordnance sergeant, he shall be furnished with his descriptive roll and account of clothing and pay, signed by the proper officer last in command, accompanied by the remarks necessary for his military history; and on his exhibiting such papers to any paymaster, with a letter from the Ordnance Office acknowledging the receipt of his returns, and that they are satisfactory, he will he paid on a separate account the amount which may be due him at the date of the receipt of the returns mentioned in such letter, together with commutation of rations, according to the regulations of he Subsistence Department. A certified statement of his pay account will be furnished the ordnance sergeant by the paymaster by whom he may be last paid. When there ire no troops at the post, the ordnance sergeant will report to the Adjutant-General’s Office, by letter, on the last day of every month."

248. The commanding officer is responsible for the ordnance stores, and the returns are signed by him. The ordnance sergeant, therefore, takes his orders from him. When, however, there are no commissioned officer or troops at the post, he makes the returns in his own name.

249. By Regulation 140, an ordnance sergeant may also be placed in charge of property belonging to other departments, in the case of evacuation of the post by the troops, in which case he is required to make the prescribed returns, the same as an officer, to the department to which the property appertains.

250. Ordnance sergeants cannot be reduced to the ranks by sentence of a court-martial; but they can be discharged from service. They cannot, however, be tried by a garrison court-martial, except by special permission of the department commander (Reg. 895.)

253. There is another kind of hospital steward allowed by Regulations. (Reg. 1325, and note.) An enlisted man may be detailed, called an Acting Hospital Steward, in the absence of a competent person to be appointed. In this capacity, at posts of four companies or less he will receive twenty-five dollars per month; and, when there are more than four companies, twenty-two dollars per month.

254. Hospital stewards may be appointed from the enlisted men of the army, or may be directly enlisted for the position. When an enlisted man is to be appointed, he must be recommended by the senior medical officer, and the recommendation should be endorsed by the commanding officer of the company and of the post or detachment. None but competent men should be recommended for the permanent appointment. (Reg. 1324.) Enlisted men, thus appointed, are appointed only for the balance of their enlistment, except volunteers, who must be discharged and enlisted again in the regular service. 

255. When hospital stewards are enlisted as such, they enlist for three years. The applicant for an appointment writes his own application, and accompanies it with suitable recommendation to the Surgeon-General: if he is accepted, an order will be issued directing his enlistment. 

256. Hospital stewards may be re-enlisted by the commanding officer, on the recommendation of the medical officer of the post or station. He is entitled to the benefits extended to all soldiers for re-enlisting, viz. :—two dollars per month additional for the first re-enlistment, and one dollar per month for each subsequent re-enlistment, provided the reenlistment, in each case, takes place within one month after the expiration of his enlistment.

257. Great care should be taken in the enlistment of hospital stewards, as the position is a responsible one. The first enlistment should be between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. The same physical qualifications are required of a hospital steward as of a recruit. He must be free from disease and able-bodied, honest, temperate, and industrious, of even temper, and devoted to the wants and patient under the whims of the sick.

258. He must have a thorough knowledge of the English language, so as to speak and write it correctly; otherwise he could not take charge of the books and records of the hospital. He must have a practical knowledge of pharmacy, sufficient to take charge of the dispensary and of surgery, be able to dress wounds and apply bandages, extract teeth, and to cup and bleed; he should also be a good cook.

259. The duties of hospital steward involve the charge of the dispensary, and the administrative duties of the hospital. Where there are several hospital stewards in the same hospital, the duties are divided. One is placed in the dispensary, who takes charge of the medicines, puts up the prescriptions, attends the surgeon in his inspections and surgical operations, performs the minor duties of surgery, applies bandages, extracts teeth, cups and bleeds, and makes the dressings.

262. In a hospital where there is but one steward, all these duties devolve upon him; and the hospital steward should therefore be familiar with all of them. He is a non-commissioned officer, and as such ranks all the enlisted men of the line. They are subject to his orders, and he should exact implicit obedience from all composing the hospital corps, except the medical cadet.

264. Hospital stewards are subject to the Articles of War, may be tried by general court-martials and by garrison courts on the approval of the department commander, and are subject to all the punishments inflicted by courts on non-commissioned officers, except that they cannot be reduced to the ranks: they may, however, be discharged. The following Regulations must be borne in mind:

"1327. Hospital stewards, whenever stationed in places whence no post return is made to the Adjutant-General’s Office, or when on furlough, will, at the end of every month, report themselves by letter to the Adjutant-General and Surgeon-General, as well as to the medical director of the military department in which they may he serving; to each of whom they will also report each new assignment to duty, or change of station, ordered in their case, noting carefully the number, date, and source of the order directing the same. They will likewise report monthly, when on furlough, to the medical officer in charge of the hospital to which they are attached.

"1328. The accounts of pay, clothing, &c. of hospital stewards must be kept by the medical officers under whose immediate direction they are serving, who are, also, responsible for certified statements of such accounts, and correct descriptive lists of such stewards, to accompany them in case of transfer—as, also, that their final statements and certificates of discharge are accurately made out when they are, at length, discharged from service."

267. The law with regard to wagon-masters and wagoners for the Quartermaster’s Department has been virtually null and void, owing to the conflicting allowance of pay, as given in the Acts of July 5, 1838, section 10, and August 3,1861, section 3. The last law allows the rank, pay, and allowances of sergeants of cavalry (seventeen dollars) to wagonmasters, and for wagoners the rank, pay, and allowances of corporals of cavalry. The former allows the appointment of wagon-masters at forty dollars per month, and three rations per day, and forage for one horse.

268. These laws, however, are not regarded; and citizens are hired as teamsters, at such salaries as are justified by the locality and the prevailing prices, by the Quartermaster’s Department. They are not enlisted men, but, whilst they are employed in the field, are subject to the Rules and Articles of War, and liable to be tried by a court-martial.

270. These cooks are to be under the direction of a head-cook, detailed from the soldiers alternately every ten days, when the company is of less than thirty men; when the company is of more than thirty men, two head-cooks are allowed. These are quite sufficient to cook the rations for a company; and, by system and method, the comfort and subsistence of a company may be greatly improved. The frequent changing of cooks under the old system worked badly for the comfort of the soldier, and they were often treated to unwholesome food, in consequence of the inexperience of some of the men.

271. The object of changing the head-cooks every ten days, as required by section 9, Act March 8, 1863, is to teach all the men how to cook; but it will follow that the under-cooks, who are permanently on that duty, will know more about it than the head-cooks. They will simply be held responsible that the cooking is properly performed.

272. The non-commissioned officers of those companies that have no commissary sergeant take their regular tour to superintend the issue of the provisions to the men, to see that the provisions are properly cooked, that there is no waste or pilfering, and that each soldier is served without distinction or favor. In the cavalry companies, this duty is performed by the company commissary sergeant.

273. SOLDIERS may be employed on duties not strictly military, when the exigencies of the service require it, for the reason that they are incident to the operations of an army, viz.:— As  Mechanics and Laborers, Cooks and Attendants in Hospitals, Regimental Armorers, Clerks, Officers’ Servants, Pioneers, Scouts, Spies, &c. &c.

274. It has been the custom to allow additional pay for such duties.* By section 35 of the Act of March 3, 1863, such payments have been discontinued; but by the same section the authority to order such details for special service is limited to the commanding officer of forces in the field.

275. MECHANICS AND LABORERS.—The employment of mechanics and laborers is generally under the direction of a quartermaster, commissary, or engineer officer, although an officer may be specially detailed to take charge of such workmen. The soldier is then relieved from duty in his company, and takes his orders from the officer in whose department he is employed.

276. Laborers include teamsters, herders, packers, assistants, strikers, &c.; and they are usually placed under some non-commissioned officer, wagon-master, packmaster, or principal workman, through whom the officer transmits his orders and instructions to the employees.

277. The same rules of discipline and obedience apply to soldiers employed on these duties as when on military duty. Simple whim or caprice is not sufficient excuse to be relieved; and applications for such an object must be respectful, and based on some plausible reason.

278. Soldiers detailed on such duty are required to attend Sunday and monthly inspections and muster, and, if not proficient in drill, should be required to attend drills until they know their duties as soldiers.

279. COOKS AND ATTENDANTS IN HOSPITALS — Soldiers may be placed on duty in hospitals as cooks and attendants for the sick. In these capacities they are under the direction of the surgeon of the hospital, and receive their orders and instructions from him.

280. They are usually under the immediate control of the hospital steward, who directs them in the details of their duties. The regulations for the government of the hospital guide them in their duties, appertaining principally to its police and cleanliness, the administration of medicine, and the care and feeding of the patients.

281. REGIMENTAL ARMORERS — Regiments armed with muskets, rifles, or carbines other than the Springfield rifle model of 1855-61-63, are entitled to an armorer, for the purpose of keeping the regimental arms in repair. He can be supplied with a set of tools and extra parts by a proper requisition on the Ordnance Department. (Par 65, instructions for making ordnance returns.)

282. Under the direction of the commanding officer, it is the duty of the armorer to keep the arms of the regiment in repair, and to take care of the called for in the various departments, as clerks, in cases where the employment of a citizen clerk is not allowed. Like other extra-duty men, they are under the direction of the officer in whose department they are detailed, and their

* The Third Auditor has decided that, under the authority granted in the Regulations, extra-duty pay may still he allowed, until the Regulations are changed. 

work may involve all the knowledge from that of a simple copyist to a complete knowledge of the administrative duties of the department they are in.

284. Clerks have the best opportunity of learning the administrative duties of the army, and, consequently, have better chances for promotion than in the ranks. The management and control of men, however, can only be learned by actual experience.

286. The custom most generally resorted to, is for the soldier to appropriate his leisure hours to such service; and he is not excused from any of his duty with the company. A soldier cannot be required to perform any service for the private benefit of an officer or mess of officers, unless he consent and is mustered as an officer’s servant. (Regulation 126.)

290. As long as the soldier wears his uniform, he only subjects himself to the ordinary dangers of war, principally of being captured and treated as a prisoner of war When, however, he lays aside his uniform and assumes a citizen’s dress, or other disguise, and is caught within the enemy’s lines, the usual penalty is death by hanging.

291. The laying aside of his uniform, whilst it increases the penalty if caught, diminishes the chances of capture; and the soldier must exercise his discretion which alternative to choose; for no officer understanding the obligations of a soldier would require him to subject himself to the penalties of a spy against his will, however much he might tempt him with the promise of reward if he accomplished his mission. A soldier, however, can be required to go within the enemy’s lines in uniform when the service requires it.

293. The soldier should be prepared to destroy the dispatches when in danger of capture; for which reason an intelligent man should be selected, in order that the contents of his dispatches may be made known to him verbally, so that, if he is in danger of being captured and compelled to destroy his dispatches, he may still be able to communicate their purport, if he should escape the danger which compelled him to destroy them.