The duties of the Engineer Department comprise-reconnoitring and surveying for military purposes and for internal improvements, the selection of sites, the formation of plans and estimates, the construction, repair, and inspection of fortifications, and the disbursements of the sums appropriated for the fulfilment of those objects severally, comprising those of the Military Academy. Al o, the superintendence of the execution of the acts of Congress in relation to internal improvements by roads, canals, the navigation of rivers, and the repairs and improvements connected with the harbours of the United States, or the entrance into the same, which may be authorized by acts of Congress, with the execution of which the War Department may be charged The function of the engineers being generally confined to the most elevated branch of military science, they do not assume, nor are they subject to be ordered on any duty bevond the line of their immediate profession, except by special authority through the War Department-and when so arranged to other duties, either on detachment or otherwise, they have precedence according to their commissions, which, at all times, entitle them to every mark of military respect. TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU. Brevet Lt. Col. John J. Abert, Topographical Engineers, Superintendent. Lieut George D. Ramsay, 1st Artillery, Assistant. Robert Fowler, Clerk......... ........ 800 00 This Bureau has charge of all topographical operations and surveys for military purposes, and for purposes of internal improvements, and of all maps, drawings and documents in relation to those duties. ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT. George Bomford, Colonel of Ordnance. William H. Bell, Captain of Ordnance. .... .1150 00 A. G. Glynn, Clerk ..................................... ................ ...... James R. Butler, Storekeeper, Pittsburg.... Samuel Perkins, Storekeeper, New York, City........ Pay, &c. of CapDaniel S. Gaillard, Storekeeper, Watervliet, N. Y....(tain of Infantry. Roger Alden, Storekeeper, West Point, N. Y.......... I Marcus C. Buck, Storekeeper, near Richmond, Va....J The Ordnance Department which had been abolished and merged in the Artillery, by the act of 28 March, 1821, was re-organized under the act of 5th April, 1832,entitled, “An act to provide for the organization of the Ordnance De atment" Under this law it consists of one Colonel, one Lieutenant Colonel, two Majors, and ten Captains, and as many enlisted men, as he public service may require, not exceeding two hundred and fifty. It is the duty of the Colonel of the Ordnance Department to direct the inspection and proving of all pieces of ordnance, cannon balls, shot, shells, small arms and side arms, and equipments proci red for the use of the armies of the United States; and to direct the construction of a cannon and carriages, and every implement and apparatus for ordnance, and all ammunition wagons, travelling forges, and artificers' wagons, the inspection and proving of powder, and the preparation of all kinds of ammunition and ordnance stores. It is also his duty to furnish estimates, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to make contracts and purchases for procuring the necessary supplies of arms, equipments, ordnance, and ordnance stores. The general denomination of ordnance and ordnance stores, comprehends all cannon, howitzers, mortars, cannon balls, and sheils for the land service, all gun carriages, caissons, travelling forges and porns, with all their equipments, and all other apparatus and machines required for the service and manoeuvres of artillery in garrison, sieges, or in the field, together with the materials for their construction and repair. Also, all small arms, side arms and accoutrements for the artillery, cavalry, infantry, and riflemen-all ammunition for cannon and small arms; and all stores of expendi ures for the service of the artillery; materials, utensils and stores for laboratories; all intrenching and miner's tools, for the attack or defence of places; armourer's tools for the repair of arms, and artificers' tools of every description, required for the construction or repair of gun carriages and artillery equipments The ordinary articles of camp equipage, such as axes, spades, shovels, mattocks, &c. are not included. ORDNANCE SERGEANTS. The act of 5th April, 1832, providing for the organization of the Ordnance Department, authorizes the Secretary of War to select from the sergeants of the line of the army, who shall have faithfully served eight years in the service, four years of which in the grade of non-commissioned officer, as many Ordnance Sergeants, as the service may require, not to exceed one for each Military Post; whose duty it shall be to receive and preserve the Ordnance, Arms, Ammunition, and the other Military Stores under the direction of the Commanding Officer of the Post, and who shall receive for their service, five dollars per month in addition to their pay in the line The following named Sergeants have been selected accordingly, by the Secretary of War. Former Reg. & Company. Station to which assigned J. Dunsford...................................... 1st Artillery... ..F.. Fort Washington. ....................do.. ......I... Bellona Arsenal. ....................do........D.. Fort Johnston. ........do.......A.. Beaufort. NAMES. G. A. White... A. Coy..... J. Holden...... P. I. Stewart.......... ........do...... ..E.. Castle Pinckney. J. Beggs...... J. Maul....... ............ ... ............ Madison Barracks. ...... ....do........B Fort Mackinac. NAMES. R. Gray.. ................. Former. Reg. & Company. Station to which assigned. 2d lufantry.. ....E. Hancock Barracks. 3d Infantry......B.. Fort Jesup, ........ ........do... ....A.. Fort Towson. 5th Infantry......D.. Fort Winnebago. S. Watkins.......... ...........do....., ..A..! Fort Howard. ........do........B.. Fort Dearborn. 6th Infantry.....H.. Fort Leavenworth. ......................do................G.Jefferson Barracks. J. Adams................. ...................... .............. Fort Wood, N. Y. J. S. Sanderson.......... 7th Infantry......B.. Fort Gibson. J. W. Darling.................................. .... S. Johnson .....do........B.. Beaufort, N. C. ..... 4th Artillery.. ......... .... .... D. C. McMullen........ 1st Infantry. ..H.. Fort Armstrong. do........H.. Fort Snelling. J. F. Short............ W. Gaines.... ............................ 2d Infantry. Fort Independence. W. W. Burns...... .... ........do ....K.. Fort Sullivan. F. Porter..........................................d..... ..D.. Fort King. W. Winning.... ........ J. Williams......... ........do ..... .A.. Fort Mitchell. J. Harrington............ 6th Infantry......I.. Tower of Du pre. General Thomas S. Jesup, Quarter Master General. Major Trueman Cross, 7th Infantry, Quartermaster. Captain Thomas F. Hunt, 5th Infantry, Assistant Quartermaster. Levin Belt, Clerk...... ...........1150 00 900 00 The objects of this department are, to insure an efficient system of supply and to give facility and effect to the movements and operations of the army. The Quartermaster General is stationed at the City of Washington, but occasionally visits the several stations of the subordinate officers of his department. He has, under the direction of the Secretary of War, the exclu sive control of all the quartermasters, and assis ant quartermasters; and of all officers and agents acting in, or making disbursements on account of the department; in every thing relating to the administrative branch of their duties, and their accountability. He has a like control of all regimental and company officers, in every thing relating to barracks or quarters, and to the accountability for supplies of the quartermaster's and purchasing departmenis One quartermaster is attached to the office of the quartermaster genera, who in addition to his other duties is charged with the disbursements At Washington, and in the absence of the quartermaster general, has the direction of the office. There is also attached to the office an assistant quartermaster, and as may subaltern officers, &c. as the service from time to time requires. All communications relating to the duties of the department, or to any branch or officer thereof, except from commanding generals of divisions, o departments of armies, must be addressed to the quartermaster general. It is the duty of the Quartermaster general to make himself acquainted with the frontiers, both maritime and interior, and with the avenues leading to the contiguous Indian and foreign territories; with the resources of the country, in military supplies, and the means of transportation, particularly of the districts on the frontiers; with the most eligible points for concentrating troops and collecting supplies, whether in relation to offensive or defensive operations; with the relative expense of concentrating at particular positions and the advantages of those positions. It is also his duty to designate the routes of communication between different posts and armies-the course of military roads and the sites for permanent and temporary depots of provi ions and military stores. The officers of the quartermaster's department are enjoined to collect information in relation to all these points, and to make themselves acquainted with the state of the roads, the course and description of the rivers, and the most direct routes between the different military posts within their respective departments The quartermaster general can assign the officers of his department to Auch stations as he may think proper; and officers so assigned cannot be removed from their stations, not be subject to detail. nor be employed upon any other duties than those of their department, except by his order or that of the Secretary of War. The officers of this department must provide quarters and transportation for the troops, and transportation for all military stores, provisions, camp and garrison equipage, and artillery, and provide for opening and repairing roads, and constructing and repairing bridges, which may be necessary to the movements of any part of the army.. They must provide good and sufficient store houses for all military supplie and for all provisions deposited by the commissary general and his assistants, or under contracts between individuals and the government, and appoint storekepers, when necessary, for the custody of such stores or provisions, or any other property of the government placed there. They purchase all forage, fuel, straw and stationary, for the use of the troops, and have the same transported and issued agreeably to the regulations They purchase dragoon and artillery horses, and horses, oxer, wagons, carts and boats, for the transportation of baggage, and for garrison purposes; and provide materials for constructing and repairing barracks, hospitals, stables and bridges. No purchase can he made on public account, in time of peace, by any officer of the quarter master's department, but the articles above enumerated, except by special authority from the Secretary of War, communicated through the quartermaster general, or at the risk of the officer ordering the supplies Officers of this department receive from the purchasing and subsistence departments, aud from the ordnance depots, all medical and hospital stores provisions, arms, ammunition, and ordnance, and transport the same to the place of destination, and make distribution thereof, agreeably to the dire tion given to the articles by the commissary general of purchases, the commissary general of subsistence, he ordnance officer, or the general commanding the division or department to which they are destined. As far as practicable, all supplies and services required in the operations of the quartermaster's department, are procured by contracts, based upon proposals respecting the same, previously advertised for. When this course is found impracticable, or inconvenient to the public service, those supplies and services are obtained by open purchase or agreement in the market. All contracts entered into, are executed in triplicate, one of which in all ases is transmitted to the quartermaster general's office. They must be accompanied by a bond of the contractor, conditioned for the faithful per formance of his stipulations, under penalty of one half the amount involved, and supported by two sureties, of whose sufficiency satisfactory evidence is required, in the absence of personal knowledge. Proposals are not to be opened until the time shall have elapsed within which they are to be received, and in all cases the several bidders have, on application, the privilege of reference to the proposals after they shall have been acted upon. A copy of all advertisements for proposals are transmitted to the quartermaster general's office, with the contracts to which they relate; also, an abstract of the proposals, showing the names and terms of the several bidders. The proposals themselves are carefully preserved for future refer ence. Officers of the quartermaster's department have the right, without reference to any other authority, to pay for all supplies or services for which they are authorized by these regulations to contract; but advances on contracts being strictly prohibited by law, under all circumstances, payment is, in no case, made for supplies until they have been delivered, nor for services until they have been performed Payment for services or supplies are as far as practicable, made within the quarter during which the service shall have been rendered, or the sup plies furnished. When this is not practicable, either from the want of funds or any other cause, the fact must be reported to the quartermaster general at the close of the quarter; and all property received, whether paid for or not, must appear on the property returns of the quarter in which it shall have been received. Due bills are not, in any case, given by officers of the quartermaster's department; nor are receipts taken from any claimant; whether for supplies or services, unless the amount specified be actually paid. No officer or other person employed in the quartermaster's department can be concerned, directly or indirectly, either for himself or others, in any contract with any department of the government, nor in the purchase of any claim of the government, whether of a soldier or a citizen, nor in the purchase or sale of any article of military supply, except on public account. All officers and agents of the quartermaster's department, are required to keep and render their accounts, both of money and property, according to the forms prescribed by the regulations; and each officer and agent of the department must forward his accounts to the office of the quartermaster general, within twenty days after the expiration of the quarter; and it shall be the duty of the quartermaster general to examine and transmit them, with his remarks, to the proper accounting officers of the treasury deparment. Any officer or agent of the quartermaster's department, who fails to forward at the time prescribed, any report, estimate, return, or statement, which he is required by the regulations to make, is removed, and his neglect is the subject of military investigation; unless he explain the cause of such failure to the satisfaction of the quartermaster general. The quartermaster general may, whenever he shall deem it necessary, cause a thor ugh inspection to be made of the books and accounts of the quartermasters, and of all officers and agents making disbursements on acCount of the department. This inspection embraces property as well as money and extends to contracts-to prices paid for articles purchasedprices paid for tran-portation— and generally, to every article of supply, and to all effects connected with the department. The books and accounts of the quartermaster general is subject to a simi lar inspection. Whenever private buildings are occupied as quarters, or lands for encampments, by the troops of the United States, a reasonable compensation is paid to the proprietor by the quartermaster of the department, pes!, or detachment. When the rate of compensation cannot be satisfactorily agreed upon, disinterested persons are appointed by the quartermaster and proprietor, to appraise and determine the rent |
