Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1852-01-01
Abstract of the Report of the
War Department.


The Secretary of War, in his annual re-
port Of The affairs Of lha. Department. makes
the entire number of men borne on the army
rolls amount TO l0.53S; which, nfier making
the usual deductions, will give an effective
force of $500 men, who have to defend
frontier OF seven Thousand miles in extent
From statements carefully prepared by the
different bureaus of the Department, it ap-
pears that the in reased expenditures in the
army resulting from our newly acquired Ter
rit"ry (includns Texas. amounted to S4,-
556.7O9.75.
The expenditures for the support of the
army for The fiscal year ending 3Orh Juue
last. were $4,000, 1868 So
The estimates for the next
year, aIe 1885, IT'S S3
Showing n reduction of $ll61 492 rs
The bulk Of our army force is stationed
on the troutiers of Texas and New Mexico,
with small forces in Oregon, California, &c.,
10 keep in su'Jection the Indian tribes. The
Secretary says that experience has shown
that the most effeciual way 10 protect our
settlements is 10 Overawe the Indians by a
constant display Of military force in their
immediate neIghborhood. With this view
The troops have been ordered to advance as
near as circumstances would permit. A
cham OF military posts on the frontiers of
Texas and New Mexico has heen established
with the view of protecting the route to Cal
liornla in that quarter.
The Secretary adverts to the enormous
expenses of supporting the army, aud the
causes which produce those expenses
Among the more prominent of the causes, is
the circumstance that more than one hal. of
the army is stationed on our remote from.
tiers, and so far as expenses are concerned
may be considered an active service in
time OF war and the heavy cost of trans.
portatIon OF supplies 10 distant wilderness
regions.
A number of arsenals, once needed, are
now entirely useless, and authority is asked
to enable the Executive 10 abolish these es-
Establishments.
The Secretary presses previous reeom-
mendatlon, that the Department be author
iz d TO enlist leamslers.
The removal OF obsrructions TO the navi-
garsn of Red river and The Rio Grande
would grpnlly reduce the expense, he says,
OF supplying many Of the posts in Texas
and New Mexico, 10y diminishing the amount
of land 'ranspora,lons.
lie says the expenditures of the army will
always be enormous, so long as lnrge por-
Iion of it IS stationed on the frontier; and 10
this end he recommends that everv facility
aud encouragement he afforded TO The for
nation of local militia in our new settle
| menir, aud that arms he distributed among
the inhabitants
In regard TO our future policy for the pre-
ventIon Of Indian hosIiliies, the Secretary
remarks that, policy and humanity require
that we should employ some other means of
| putting stop to these depredatlons than the
| terror OF our arms and TO this effect he re-
conmends concIliatory measures. Despair
and hunger frequently operate on the lndi-
| ans. The lands that afford nourishmrnt to
cattle and game are the first to tempt the
settler; SO that the Indians are frequently
driven into the arid plans aud mountains
| that afford no sustenance, with the circle OF
| white population rapidly closing around
them and particularly is this the case in
Texas, since the right of occupancy by the
Indians is not recognized by the Stnte.-
| This policy it is thai alarms and exasperares
the Indians, and brings on collisions bet " cen
| them aud the whites. The Secretary sug
geSt> that il is TO the advantage of Texas
| herself, as well as the United Srates, that
these Indians should he left in POSSESSION of
snaii part oi her ieTt'toTy; anu ne Tecotn-
mends that food and other neressarles be
furnished them for series of years.
The Florida Indians have been placed IN
der the charge OF the Secretary of the lnie-
rIor.
The Military Academy, the Armories at
Springfield and Harprrs' Ferry, the opera
lions of the Bureau of Typographical Engi-
nrers, the Survey of the Northern Lakes,
that of the Creek boundary. and that OF The
Delta of the Mississippi, and the expeditions
to Salt Lake and to S,nlc Fe, are briefly no
tced and iavorahly commenced on.
| The Secretary announces that the Board
appointed tor that purpose have determined
on site in the vicinity OF Washington for
an ylun for disabled and destitute soldiers.
that the terms of the purchase have been
agreed on; and that, as soon as the titles
shall have been examined and approved, the
| agreement will he carried into effect.
He suggests Il e expe.Iiency of creating n
retired list of disabled officers.
He recommends that the act which allows
a small additional ply TO officers and soldiers
in California and Oregon. he continued in
| force. and that II include also New Mexico.
He concludes by Recommending u system
of equaIizine the distribution of arms to the
mili'ia of The several St,tes, on a basis de-.
rived from the latest census returns.