zona was continued until December of last year, when a preliminary report of the results, affording valuable information for mining as well as for military operations and to immigrants, was submitted to Congress and published. The field-work, which, in addition to the usual subjects of observation, comprises the careful determination of an astronomical base, was resumed this summer as soon as the appropriation was available.

In addition to these special works of exploration the officers of Engineers serving on the staff of the generals commanding divisions and departments have made important reconnaissances, such as that of the Upper Yellowstone River and that of the Uintah Mountains, and have made many contributions to the topography of the Territories of the United States.

In compliance with the act approved March 19, 1872, authorizing the survey and marking of the boundary between the territory of the United States and the possessions of Great Britain from the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, four officers of Engineers were detailed for that purpose and ordered to report to the Secretary of State for duty. The survey is now in progress.

The duties of the Signal Office in observations and reports for the benefit of commerce and agriculture have been continued throughout the year with gratifying success. Stations have been maintained at each of the principal lake, sea-port, and river cities. The display of bulletin reports, of reports at the river stations, giving the rise and fall of the principal rivers, of the large weather-maps showing, by changing symbols, the meteoric changes at the different reports; and finally, at designated stations, the exhibition of day or night signals, on occasions of supposed especial danger, has been regularly made. Since the date of the last annual report ten additional stations have been established within the United States.

A comparison of the tri-daily forecasts, or "probabilities" as they have been styled, with the meteoric condition afterward reported, and, so far as known, has given an average of 69 per cent. as verified up to November 1, 1871. Since that date, to the present time, (October 1, 1872,) the average of verifications has been 76,8% per cent.

The difficulty of telegraphic communication with the stations was greatest, and was most seriously felt during the months of July and August. It then not unfrequently happened that the most important and wide-spread of the press "probabilities," i. e., those drawn at midnight from the midnight reports, were made in the absence of any current telegraphic information at that hour due from the observers west or south of the Alleghanies. It is on this section on which the office is most dependent for the intelligence which suggests the metoric changes impending in the Eastern, Middle, and Southern States, and upon the lakes.

The practical results of this branch of the service, with all its errors

and imperfections, can be summed up, it is believed, in the statement that since the inauguration of its duties no great and continuous storm has traversed the territory of the United States, or raged along the length of its lakes, its gulf or sea-coast shores, as in their course such storms have sometimes done, without fair and general premonition given at the great majority of the points endangered to any who cared to seek or heed them.

Since the date of the last annual report, arrangements were made with the Chief of the Dominion Meterological Bureau of Canada for an exchange of reports with his office as rapidly as the system may extend in the Dominion. Arrangements of a similar description are contemplated for the exchange of observations by telegraph with various points in the West India Islands. These arrangements will be carried into effect, if possible, before the opening of the stormy spring season.

Since January 1, 1872, statements of the changes in the depths of water in the principal western rivers, being in direct relation to the meteoric changes, have been reported daily from all stations established upon those rivers. These reports are carefully prepared, and have been received with a marked degree of interest. It is hoped that as the number of stations increases and communication with the proper authorities is organized, a portion of the great problem of the protection of the river commerce from ice and freshets, and of the lower river levees from breakage and overflow, with the consequent disasters, will be solved.

Under the act approved June 10, 1872, the service before technically limited to the lakes and sea-coasts was extended throughout the interior, and many of the agricultural societies in the country have been requested to appoint a permanent committee to confer with the Chief Signal Officer, and to take in conjunction with him such steps, or to recommend such action, as might be deemed desirable to accomplish the objects of that act. In addition to the committees above referred to thirty-eight (38) boards of trade and chambers of commerce have standing meteorological committees, which are in direct communication with the Chief Signal Officer. A personal visit to West Point and inspection of the operations of the Academy in June last, and the report of the Board of Visitors, whose investigations were very thorough, disclosed a satisfactory state of proficiency in discipline and study. Since my last annual report there has.. been no breach of discipline or impropriety on the part of cadets calling for the exercise of higher authority than that of the Superintendent and Academic Staff.

The number of failures to master the academic course, including original rejections, were 87, the number of admissions 95; the total number of cadets now at the Academy is 240. There are 53 vacancies, caused by failures upon preliminary examinations, discharge of cadets for deficiency, and the failure of congressional Representatives to select suitable candidates for the past September examination. The standard of proficiency in the corps of cadets has much improved, but great obstruc

tion to the usefulness which the Academy might otherwise attain in fitting scientific and highly educated young men for the public service is experienced because of the large amount of time necessarily expended in giving new cadets a thorough knowledge of the mere elementary branches of learning, which they should have acquired before entering the Academy. Under the present system a large percentage of the candidates who seek admission to the Academy fail in their preliminary examination, or are found incapable of mastering the academic course during the first year. Many of those who go to West Point with the prestige of high scholarship, obtained elsewhere, fail, under examination, in the very rudiments of an education. That such failure cannot be charged to a too severe examination is shown by the fact that the qualifications demanded of candidates are less than those.established by perhaps a majority of the higher scholastic institutions of the country; and the examinations are not conducted more rigidly than is absolutely necessary. A considerable modification of the existing mode of selection of cadets seems to be demanded, as the only effectual remedy for this evil; and in this connection attention is invited to the report of the Superintendent of the Academy, which furnishes some interesting data on the subject of admission.

The department of Philosophy is very destitute of necessary apparatus for instruction, but it is hoped Congress will supply this important want through liberal appropriations.

The subject of the revision of the academic regulations is now under consideration, and many changes which experience has shown to be advisable will be made.

Legislation by Congress is also needed in aid of the Military Academy band, which is now the only one provided for by law, and the pay of which experience has shown to be wholly insufficient. Attention is invited to the recommendation of the Superintendent for the increase of its numbers and pay.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that an appropriation liberal in amount has been made by Congress for the erection of a fire-proof building, a portion of which is for the use of the War Department. The necessity for a safe depository for the valuable records, now scattered in insecure localities, renders the speedy erection of this building a matter of great interest to the country.

WM. W. BELKNAP,
Secretary of War.

PAPERS

ACCOMPANYING

THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL OF THE ARMY.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

Washington, D. C., November 1, 1872. SIR: I have the honor to submit, herewith, a statement showing the organization of the Regular Army, and exhibiting the actual strength of the regiments and detachments that compose the present peace establishment, together with the stations occupied by them at the dates of the latest returns. According to this statement the actual force of enlisted men is 29,336, and of commissioned officers 2,104.

I also transmit, herewith, the annual reports of the division and department commanders, which cover the whole area of the United States, and give all the details necessary to understand the labors performed by the troops.

But few changes have occurred in the past year. Major-General G. G. Meade commands the Division of the Atlantic, composed of the Department of the Lakes, Brigadier-General P. St. George Cooke, and the Department of the East, Brigadier-General I. McDowell.

Lieutenant-General Sheridan commands the Division of the Missouri, embracing the four important Departments of Dakota, Major-General. Hancock; Department of the Platte, Brigadier-General Ord; the Department of the Missouri, Brigadier-General Pope; and the Department of Texas, Brigadier-General Augur.

General Schofield commands the Division of the Pacific, embracing the Department of the Columbia, Brigadier-General Canby, the Department of California, and Department of Arizona, Lieutenant-Colonel Crook. General Schofield exercises an immediate command over the De'partment of California, in the absence of a separate and distinct commander.

Since the death of General Halleck, the President has not named any successor to the Military Division of the South, and the department commanders, Brigadier-General Terry and Colonel Emory, report, direct to the Adjutant-General of the Army.

The reports of all these officers are so full and complete that they leave nothing for me but to submit them, with my hearty approval of the several recommendations therein.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

Hon. W. W. BELKNAP,

W. T. SHERMAN,

General.

Secretary of War.

REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SHERIDAN.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, Chicago, Illinois, October 12, 1872. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit, for the information of the General of the Army, my annual report, accompanied by the reports of the Department commanders.

The Military Division of the Missouri is composed of the Departments of Dakota, the Platte, the Missouri, and Texas, commanded respectively by Major-General Winfield S. Hancock, Brigadier-General Edward O. C. Ord, Brigadier-General John Pope, and Brigadier-General Christopher C. Augur. It embraces a large extent of territory, having a great diversity of interests, and contains nearly all the restless and hostile bands of Indians. For the protection of these interests, and to hold the restless and hostile Indians in check, seventy-two military posts and a number of summer encampments are occupied at necessary points from the line of British Columbia to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Missouri River to the eastern line of California and Arizona. These posts are garrisoned by seven regiments of cavalry, with an aggregate strength for duty of 4,474 men, and fifteen regiments of infantry, with an aggregate strength for duty of 6,771 men. The demands made upon this small force for the protection of settlements and railroads; escorts for authorized exploring expeditions; the protection of the long line of the Rio Grande, and of Indian agents on reservations, &c., &c., have given