Political Influence, Or The Power Of Raising
Recruits, Had Been The Standard By Which Military Rank Was
Distributed.
The old West Point officers had generally been chosen
for high commands, but beyond this everything was necessarily new.
Young colonels and ancient captains abounded without any harsh
feeling as to the matter on either side.
Indeed, in this respect,
the practice of the country generally was simply carried out.
Fathers and mothers in America seem to obey their sons and daughters
naturally, and as they grow old become the slaves of their
grandchildren.
Mr. Olmstead says that food was found to be universally good and
abundant. On this matter Mr. Olmstead might have spoken in stronger
language without exaggeration. The food supplied to the American
armies has been extravagantly good, and certainly has been
wastefully abundant. Very much has been said of the cost of the
American army, and it has been made a matter of boasting that no
army so costly has ever been put into the field by any other nation.
The assertion is, I believe, at any rate true. I have found it
impossible to ascertain what has hitherto been expended on the army.
I much doubt whether even Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury,
or Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, know themselves, and I do not
suppose that Mr. Stanton's predecessor much cared. Some approach,
however, may be reached to the amount actually paid in wages and for
clothes and diet; and I give below a statement which I have seen of
the actual annual sum proposed to be expended on these heads,
presuming the army to consist of 500,000 men. The army is stated to
contain 660,000 men, but the former numbers given would probably be
found to be nearer the mark: -
Wages of privates, including sergeants and
corporals $86,640,000
Salaries of regimental officers 23,784,000
Extra wages of privates; extra pay to
mounted officers, and salary to
officers above the rank of colonel l7,000,000
- - - - - -
$127,424,000
or
25,484,000 pounds sterling.
To this must be added the cost of diet and clothing. The food of
the men, I was informed, was supplied at an average cost of l7 cents
a day, which, for an army of 500,000 men, would amount to 6,200,000
pounds per annum. The clothing of the men is shown by the printed
statement of their War Department to amount to $3.00 a month for a
period of five years. That, at least, is the amount allowed to a
private of infantry or artillery. The cost of the cavalry uniforms
and of the dress of the non-commissioned officers is something
higher, but not sufficiently so to make it necessary to make special
provision for the difference in a statement so rough as this. At
$3.00 a month the clothing of the army would amount to 3,600,000
pounds. The actual annual cost would therefore be as follows:
Salaries and wages 25,484,400 pounds.
Diet of the soldiers 6,200,000 "
Clothing for the soldiers 3,600,000 "
- - - - -
35,280,400 "
I believe that these figures may be trusted, unless it be with
reference to that sum of $l7,000,000, or 3,400,000 pounds, which is
presumed to include the salaries of all general officers, with their
staffs, and also the extra wages paid to soldiers in certain cases.
This is given as an estimate, and may be over or under the mark.
The sum named as the cost of clothing would be correct, or nearly
so, if the army remained in its present force for five years. If it
so remained for only one year, the cost would be one-fifth higher.
It must of course be remembered that the sum above named includes
simply the wages, clothes, and food of the men. It does not
comprise the purchase of arms, horses, ammunition, or wagons; the
forage of horses; the transport of troops, or any of those
incidental expenses of warfare which are always, I presume, heavier
than the absolute cost of the men, and which, in this war, have been
probably heavier than in any war ever waged on the face of God's
earth. Nor does it include that terrible item of peculation, as to
which I will say a word or two before I finish this chapter.
The yearly total payment of the officers and soldiers of the army is
as follows. As regards the officers, it must be understood that
this includes all the allowances made to them, except as regards
those on the staff. The sums named apply only to the infantry and
artillery. The pay of the cavalry is about ten per cent. higher: -
* General Scott alone holds that rank in the United States Army.
** A colonel and lieutenant-colonel are attached to each regiment.
In every grade named the pay is, I believe, higher than that given
by us, or, as I imagine, by any other nation. It is, however,
probable that the extra allowances paid to some of our higher
officers when on duty may give to their positions for a time a
higher pecuniary remuneration. It will of course be understood that
there is nothing in the American army answering to our colonel of a
regiment. With us the officer so designated holds a nominal command
of high dignity and emolument as a reward for past services.
I have already spoken of my visits to the camps of the other armies
in the field, that of General Halleck, who held his headquarters at
St. Louis, in Missouri, and that of General Buell, who was at
Louisville, in Kentucky. There was also a fourth army under General
Hunter, in Kansas, but I did not make my way as far west as that.
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