Page images
PDF
EPUB

On the subject of the increase of the army, the Governor suggested the following method:"It is probable that the troops now in the field will meet present emergencies, whilst it may be safely calculated that a much larger number will have to go into service before spring. I beg to recommend that the executive authorities be authorized to organize two 'class regiments, one of Germans and their immediate descendants, and another of Irish and their descendants.... These people, though brave and patriotic, have been deterred from entering the army mainly because for them there was little chance for promotion. . . . . If I should be mistaken, however, in the causes that have deterred them, and it is found to proceed from a lack of inclination, then authority ought to be given to draft a regiment from each class. It is not a wise or just Government which, in a war like this, taxes native blood and energy alone, leaving the foreign-born at home, reaping the fruits of dear-bought victories."

The forces of the State in the field, at the time when the greatest number were in active service, were as follows:

In Virginia, two regiments of infantry, one thousand strong each.....

2,000 6,000 6,000

Under Hardee, in regiments..

Under McCulloch, in regiments..

Seven new regiments just organized, and under marching orders.....

6,000

Independent companies and battalions of artillery and cavalry with Hardee and McCulloch,...

Total Arkansas force.......

1,500

..21,500

The entire vote of the State at the Presidential election in November, was 54,063; consequently over one-third of the amount of her vote was in the field. The number of twelvemonths men that entered the Confederate service from the State is stated at thirteen regiments. As late as October, all the pay which the troops had received was in Arkansas war bonds, and much murmuring existed among the soldiers, owing to the worthlessness of the bonds. Even as far back as June, some of the troops furnished by the State were very poorly equipped. Col. Hindman, writing to the Military Board about June 10th, says:-"I telegraphed you that the men of my regiment were without blankets and shoes, and requested you to allow me to apply to their benefit the proceeds of the sugar now in store which I seized from the Cincinnati steamboats, and turned over to the civil authorities before Arkansas seceded."

The expenditures of the State for military purposes, previous to the 6th of November, amounted to $1,041,603. Thirty-seven thousand dollars of this sum were spent in the capture of the arsenal at Little Rock, and the post at Fort Smith, and the stores at Pine Bluff and Napoleon, before the State seceded. Apart from the regiments furnished to the Confederate army by the State, the stores and men supplied, at various times, to Gen. Sterling Price,

to enable him to maintain a foothold in Missouri, and thereby prevent the approach of the Federal forces into Arkansas, were the most important debts of her authorities and citizens. The internal condition of the State was very far from being satisfactory to the authorities or to the people. On the 12th of June, several negroes were arrested in Monroe County, thirty miles west of Helena, upon a charge of attempted insurrection. Two men and one girl were hung. The plot was to murder the white male inhabitants, and to spare the women and children, if they did not resist.

The great cause of uneasiness, however, was the Union sentiment which was known to exist in the State. Of the fifty-four thousand votes polled at the Presidential election in November, 1860, over twenty thousand were given for the candidate whose platform was "the Constitution and the Union." In the State Convention, previous to April 15th, the secession party were not strong enough to pass an ordinance of separation, and were forced to compromise with the opposition. Even as late as December, 1861, within one week, a member of the Legislature of Arkansas, and forty other citizens of the State, came to Rolla, in Missouri, where thirty-five joined a regiment of Missouri troops. They represented that a surprising degree of loyalty to the Federal Government still existed in the northern part of the State.

[ocr errors]

The Governor, in his Message to the Legislature, at its session on the first Monday of November, alludes to the existence of "treason in the State," without stating any details. These were well known. On the 29th of October, twenty-seven persons were brought to Little Rock as members of a secret Union organization in Van Buren County. They were placed in jail to be brought to trial by the civil authority. At this time many others were also taken. It was publicly stated that they formed a regular organization, called a Peace and Constitutional Society;" that there were 700 members in Searcy, Van Buren, Newton, and Izard Counties, and 1,700 in the whole State; that they had a regular system of signs and passwords, and were furnished with supplies of money. The Constitution made it obligatory upon every member to hazard his life in aid of another in distress, and the penalty of exposing any of the secrets of the organization was death. Those who were taken, were reported to have been well supplied with arms, and the others were supposed to be equally well equipped. The disaffection of the people in that section of the State was made known to the authorities by Gen. Burgevin, and the names of citizens given.

[ocr errors]

On the 23d of November, it was determined that, after a campaign of sixty days in Kansas and Missouri, Gen. McCulloch should fall back into Arkansas. Preparations were therefore made to accommodate five thousand army horses, and a number of mules, near Fort Smith Valley. A hundred thousand bushels of corn,

and three thousand seven hundred and fifty tons of hay, were procured for their forage. As this valley had been largely drawn upon during the summer and fall months of the year, it was feared that the encampment of such a large number of men and animals as composed McCulloch's force might distress the inhabitants. The campaign in Kansas was not carried out, and early in the spring Gen. McCulloch was driven out by the Federal force.

At

ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, the entire military force at the disposal of the Government was 16,006 regulars. They were principally employed in the West to hold in check marauding Indians. It has always been the policy of the Government to maintain the army at the lowest number of privates which was practicable consistent with the interests of the country, and to rely upon volunteers whenever any emergency should arise. The effect of this policy was to place the forts and arsenals in seceding States in such a condition as to be entirely unprepared to make any defence when assaulted, even by armed citizens disposed to seize them. The nucleus of an army was always preserved by the education of officers at the military institution at West Point. The wisdom of this policy is now more severely tested than ever before.

The call of the President for troops for three months, in his proclamation of April 15th, asked for 75,000 men. This call amounted, in the aggregate, to ninety-four regiments, making 73,391, officers and men. Of the States called upon, the Governors of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri peremptorily refused to comply with the requirements made by the War Department. All the other non-seceding States promptly furnished the number required of them, except Maryland, whose Governor was prevented from so doing by the outbreak at Baltimore. The quota for each State under this call was as follows:

Maine...... 1 780 Virginia...... 3
New Hampshire 1 780 North Carolina. 2
Vermont...... 1 780 Kentucky..... 4
Massachusetts. 2 1,560 Arkansas.
Rhode Island.. 1
Connecticut...

2,340

1,560

3,123

1 780 780 Missouri........... 4 8,123 780 Ohio....... 13 10,153

6 4,683 4,683

780

New York..... 17 13,280 Indiana

New Jersey... 4 3,123 Illinois.. Pennsylvania. 16 12,500 Michigan.. Delaware..... 1 780 Iowa...

6

1

1

Tennessee.... 2 1,560 Minnesota.... 1 Maryland..... 4 3,123 Wisconsin....

1

780 780

780

The remainder, to constitute the 75,000 men, was composed of troops in the District of Columbia.

Notwithstanding the positive refusal of the Governors of Virginia and Missouri to coöperate with the Government, patriotic citizens voluntarily united together and organized regiments for the Government service. Virginia furnished a regiment, and Missouri raised a force of 11,445, officers and men, making in round

numbers twelve organized regiments. The citi zens of the District of Columbia furnished no less than 2,813, officers and men, making in all four regiments. It was ordered that each regiment should consist of an aggregate of 780, officers and men. This was at a future day changed. Under the above-mentioned call the Government received, and had in service on the 1st of July, 77,875 men. These troops were infantry or riflemen.

On the 4th of May a second proclamation was issued by the President, calling for volunteers to serve during the war. So patriotic and enthusiastic were the people in favor of preserving the Union, that, under this call, two hundred and eight regiments had been accepted by July 1st. A number of other regiments were also accepted, on condition of being ready to be mustered into service within a specified time. All of those regiments accepted under this call were infantry and riflemen, with the exception of two battalions of artillery and four regiments of cavalry. Many regiments, mustered as infantry, had attached to them one or more artillery companies; and there were also some regiments partly made up of companies of cavalry. Of the two hundred and eight regiments above mentioned, one hundred and fiftythree were in active service on the 1st of July, and the remaining fifty-five within twenty days afterwards.

The total force in the field on July 1st, was computed as follows:

Regulars and volunteers for three months
and for the war...
Add to this 55 regiments of volunteers for
the war, accepted and not then in
service...

50,000

Add new regiments of regular army. 25,000

232,875

75,000

77,875

Total force at command of Government..... 307,873
Deduct the three-months volunteers....
Force for service after the withdrawal of the
three-months men...

230,000

Of this force, 188,000 men were volunteers, and 42,000 men computed for the regular army. The proclamation of the President of May 4th also called for an increase of the regular army. This increase consisted of one regiment of cavalry of twelve companies, numbering, in the maximum aggregate, 1,189, officers and men; one regiment of artillery of twelve batteries, of six pieces each, numbering, in the maximum aggregate, 1,909, officers and men ; nine regiments of infantry, each regiment containing three battalions of eight companies each, numbering, in the maximum aggregate, 2,452, officers and men, making a maximum increase of infantry of 22,068, officers and men.

The system adopted for the organization of the volunteers was different from the one which had existed in the regular army. The French regimental system of three battalions to a regi ment was adopted.

The appropriations asked of Congress at its

extra session in July for the support of the in the rawest state, to obtain the rank of offiarmy, were as follows:

[blocks in formation]

$70,289,200 21 27,278,781 50

7,468,172 00 67,845,402 48 408,000 00 685,000 00 50,000 00 1,271,841 00

10,000,000 00

185,296,897 19

By an act of Congress of July 22d, the States were asked to furnish 500,000 volunteers to serve for three years, or during the war; and by an act approved July 29th, the addition of 25,000 men to the regular army was authorized. At the same session, five hundred millions of dollars were appropriated for the support of the army. The enlistment and organization of troops were entered upon with great activity and warm popular approbation during the ensuing three months, when it was restricted. Many circumstances aided the enlistment. The cause of the Union was approved by every one; a general stagnation or inactivity pervaded all industrial pursuits, and multitudes were partially or wholly unemployed, and the wages offered to the soldier were extremely liberal. The pay offered to privates by the United States was $13 per month, and a bounty of 100 acres of land at the close of the war. In addition, many of the States gave to each married citizen volunteer about one dollar per week for his wife, and in proportion for each child of his family between certain ages. Where such a sum was not given to the family of the private by the State, it was in numerous instances bestowed by the city or town in which he lived. The clothing furnished to the private by the Government, is one uniform hat each year, price $1; one forage cap each year, price 57 cents; one uniform coat each year, price $6 56; three pair of trowsers the first year, two the second, and three the third, price $2 82 per pair; two sack coats each year, price each $2 10; three flannel shirts each year, price 90 cents each; one overcoat in five years, price $6 40; three pairs of drawers the first year, two every other year, price 71 cents each pair; four pair of brogans each year, price $2 20 per pair; two blankets in five years, price $2 44 each.

A variety of other articles are supplied, but these are the chief. To encourage economy and cleanliness among the troops, every article not drawn according to the allowance will be paid for to the soldier.

For the ration, or amount and variety of food furnished to privates by the Government, see RATION.

The pay of officers was on an equally liberal scale; and civilians in profitable, social positions, as well as those in no position, aspired,

cers.

Too many unworthy persons were successful. It cost the Government millions, and required the efforts of all the military skill in the country to bring the accumulated mass up to the discipline and order of an approved

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

of 500,000 men. Some portion was to cover deficiencies arising from an excess of force in the field over the estimate for the previous six months.

The great mass of this force was calculated to operate in Virginia and in the West. Detachments were engaged elsewhere. That portion engaged in Virginia it was expected to subsist by supplies drawn chiefly from the cities of New York and Baltimore. That portion in the West would be supplied from St. Louis and the cities on the Ohio River. It is not possible to obtain the details of stores required for a military force until a campaign has closed, and the accounts of an army are made up by the respective officers. Some facts representing the unparalleled magnitude of these operations are of interest. At the very extensive warehouses occupied by the Government at Washington, there were on hand, on the 12th of October, an amount of stores represented by the following figures:

Pork, 3,000 barrels; beef, 6,000 barrels; beef tongues, 200 barrels; bacon, 300,000 pounds; hams, 50,000 pounds; flour, 11,000 barrels; hard bread, 3,000,000 pounds; beans, 4,000 bushels; rice, 1,000 pounds; hominy, 10,000 pounds; riced barley, 20,000 pounds; green coffee, 20,000 pounds; ground coffee, 40,000 pounds; tea, 1,000 pounds; sugar, 2,000,000 pounds; vinegar, 70,000 gallons; candles, 40,000 pounds; soap, 200,000 pounds; salt, 40,000 bushels; desiccated potatoes, 2,000 pounds; desiccated mixed vegetables, 17,000 pounds; pickles, 278 kegs; dried apples, 50,000 pounds; split peas, 4,000 bushels; molasses, 6,000 gallons; potatoes, 4,000 bushels.

The receipts at these warehouses, for the week ending the 12th of October, were as follows:

1,000 barrels of pork; 2,000 barrels of beef; 1,850 barrels of tongues; 76,000 pounds of bacon; 800 barrels flour; 850,000 pounds hard bread; 3,500 bushels beans; 34,000 pounds rice; 500 bushels hominy; 20,000 pounds riced barley; 150,000 pounds roasted and ground coffee; 100,000 pounds green coffee; 2,000 pounds tea; 750,000 pounds sugar; 9,000 gallons vinegar; 34,000 pounds candles; 80,000 pounds soap; 8,000 pounds desiccated potatoes; 10,000 pounds mixed vegetables; 30,000 pounds dried apples; 1,000 bushels split peas; 3,000 bushels potatoes; 5,000 gallons molasses.

For the previous three weeks the issues had been about equal to the receipts.

The following shows the prices paid by the Government for the specified articles:

Pork, $19 per barrel; beef, $15 per barrel; beef tongues, $16 per barrel; bacon, 10 cents per pound; hams, 12 cents per pound; flour, $7 50 per barrel; hard bread, 4 cents per pound; beans, $2 per bushel; rice, 7 cents per pound; hominy, 2 cents per pound; riced barley, 4 cents per pound; ground coffee, 20 cents per pound; green coffee, 14 cents per pound; tea, 50 cents per pound; sugar, 8

cents per pound; vinegar, 12 cents per gal lons; candles, 26 cents per pound; soap, cents per pound; salt, 5 cents per pound; desiccated potatoes, 11 cents per pound; desiccated mixed vegetables, 24 cents per pound; pickle, $3 75 per keg; dried applies, 5 cents per pound; split peas, $2 per bushel; molasses, 32 cents per gallon; potatoes, 60 cents per bushel.

When the necessity of a bakery became ap parent, one was constructed in the exterior vaults of the Capitol, under the supervision of Lieut. Cate. From these ovens at least 50,000 loaves were sent out daily, during the winter, to the troops around Washington.

Infantry Arms.-On the commencement of the war the United States Government found itself scantily supplied with small-arms, the armories in the Northern States having been in great part stripped, and the arms removed to the Southern States. (See CONFEDERATE STATES.) The chief dependence for the supply of muskets was upon the Springfield armory and that at Harper's Ferry. The capacity of the few private armories was only a few thousand muskets annually; and on the destruction of the arsenal and armory at Harper's Ferry on the 19th of April, 1861, together with 15,000 muskets, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Confederates, the resources of the Government were seriously diminished. It was, no doubt, the want of arms that limited the call of the President for volunteers, on the 15th of April, to 75,000 men; and until muskets could be imported from Europe many regiments were detained in their camps in the different States. Orders were sent abroad by the Governors of States, and many arms were imported at high prices, although inferior, most of them very much so, to those of American manufacture. The Springfield armory, the capacity of which was rated at only about 25,000 muskets annually, was enlarged as rapidly as possible, and its production, assisted by outside machine shops, was brought up at the close of the year to about 8,000 muskets per month, and has since been increased to about 15,000 a month. These are rifled with three grooves, making one-half turn in the length of a barrel of 40 inches. The bore is 0.58 inch in diameter, and the projec tile used is a hollow base cylindro-conical shot of lead. Including the bayonet, ramrod, and other appendages, the number of pieces belonging to the musket are 84 in number, 26 of which are of steel, 2 of wood, and the remainder of iron. All of them are made by machinery, and in all the guns the corresponding pieces are so precisely alike that they may be used indiscriminately, and, in case of damage, the injured parts may be replaced without any difficulty as to their fitting. By this system, which is purely American, the arms are made of uniform excellence, and are unsurpassed by any produced by the best armories in Europe. Their estimated cost, from the official reports, is $13 25 each for the gun alone, and

$1 68 for appendages, making a total of $14 93. This, however, allows nothing for the general expenses, as salaries, interest upon the heavy cost of the establishments, etc. The barrels are made of the best kind of wrought-iron bars, each 14 inches long, 5 inches wide, and of

an inch thick. These are rolled with bevelled edges, so as to make a perfect joint when they are turned over to form a tube. This is effect ed by passing them at a high heat through a succession of grooves in the curving rolls, each groove gradually bringing the bar nearer to the cylindrical form. The edges are brought together and welded in a machine, which also elongates the barrel. The machine is provided with 8 grooves, of decreasing sizes, through which the barrel is passed in succession, being kept in shape by a mandrel thrust through the barrel, and changed for a smaller one with each decreasing groove. After this, the barrel, without a mandrel rod, is passed through the finishing groove twice, to render it smooth and cylindrical. The straightening, which is the next operation, is effected in large dies of the same length as the barrel, into which this is gradually forced by the pressure given by an eccentric movement. The next operation is what is called coneseating, which is fixing and welding the seat for the nipple for a percussion cap. This is done by the action of tilt hammers. The polishing of the barrel is done by emery wheels, run by steam or water power. The manufacture of the nipples is one of the most difficult parts of the work, as the steel of which they are made has to be brought to the exact degree of hardness by tempering, adapted for receiving the concussion of the hammer without being either broken or flattened by the blow the former effect resulting from too great, and the latter from too little hardness. The locks are extremely simple in their construction, while at the same time they are of the greatest efficiency. They contain but two springs, which are made of the best English cast steel. The other parts are of the best Norway iron, costing sometimes to import $215 per ton. The lock-plate, like most of the smaller pieces of the gun-as the guards, triggers, etc. is cut out at once of proper shape in a die, and the finishing is effected by a chisel, the movements of which are exactly regulated by machinery to the shape of the piece, so that it is not even necessary to use the file. The stocks are made of black walnut, well seasoned, and sawed into blocks, with rectangular edges, of the general shape of the stock. The shaping of them, and excavating the grooves for the barrel and ramrod, the screw-holes, and the receptacles for the lock and butt-plate, are all effected by machines of extraordinary ingenuity, developed from the principle of the lathe invented several years ago by Mr. Thomas Blanchard, of Massachusetts. Of these machines, some of which are also employed in shaping the outside of the barrel, as many as thirteen, each having its separate work to perform, are required for the completion of

the gun. An exact pattern in iron of the object to be produced regulates in its rotation the action of the cutters, planes, drills, etc., which excavate in the block depressions corresponding precisely to those of the pattern. The operation of the machines is wonderfully rapid, and so exact that the lock, mountings, etc., are found to fit precisely in their places, with their edges exactly flush with the wood. These machines are among the most expensive of those employed in the gun manufacture. All parts of the gun are subjected to rigid tests of gauge and inspection throughout the different processes, and the barrels are twice proved by firing with 360 and 240 grs. of powder, with an ovate ball double the weight of the service ball. Only about one gun in 100 or 150 is injured. The service charge is 60 grs. of powder, and the conoidal bullet weighs 500 grs. The final process for completing the gun is the rifling. The bayonets and ramrods also are made of the best English cast steel, and especial care is taken to give the former the exact temper adapted to them.

Similar rifles have been supplied to the Government for many years from the Whitney Armory, near New Haven, and other private establishments. Of the foreign arms imported the best are the Enfield rifles, made at the Government armory at Enfield, England, upon the same system as the American rifle, and with machinery, the models of which were obtained from the Springfield armory. In size these differ little from the Springfield muskets. The barrel is 3 ft. 3 in. long, and its bore of precisely 0.5777 inch. It weighs 4 lbs. 2 oz., and the whole piece, with the bayonet, 9 lbs. 3. oz. The bullet is of pure lead, compressed in dies, and is 1.05 inch long and 0.55 inch diameter; weighs 520 grains. The rifles are sighted to 900 yards. Many arms have also been imported from Prussia, of the kind known by the Germans as Zündnadelgewehr, or darting needle guns, with which all the armies of Prussia are armed. It is a peculiar breech-loading rifle, having a slide for the reception of the cartridge, which is introduced on its upper side when this slide is drawn out from the breech end of the barrel by its stout handle. It is then pushed forward into the barrel, and is secured by a catch. The firing is effected by the sudden release of a steel needle, which enters through a hole in the centre of the rear end of the slide, and, passing through the powder, strikes a fulminating composition contained in the base of the conical bullet. This rifle has found little favor with the American War Department, and all the muskets have been altered to muzzle-loading and percussion locks. The objections are: the liability of the pieces to become foul, in which state they are difficult to charge; and of the cartridges to explode in store, from their containing both the powder and the detonating compound. Breech-loading arms, of which a great variety have been invented, are not approved for general use so highly as the old

« EelmineJätka »