The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-02-15
Rirbmnnn Qispatft.
THE FEDERAL ARMY.
UNIFORM, EQUIPMENTS, NUMBERS, AND
DISCIPLINE.
from the Cincinnati G,zs,te.


DISCIPLINE.
From the Cincinnati Gszette
Previous to the breaking ont of this rebe l..
lion, the reg n lar army of the U1ited Stat
cor sisted of the following corps, viz: A cory 8
OF engineers corps OF typographical er gi
neers an ordnance corps three regiments of
cavalry; four OF artillery, and ten ofinfantr,
mum bering IN all about IA 600 men. To this
small standing army Of reg gulars the follow
Ing force has been added three re giments cf
cavalry, one ofartillery q nd nine OF infantry.
win detachments OF engineers and rifiemen,
making II, ,l75 infantry, 4 744 cavalry, ,3os ar
tillery, and l07 engineers. being total force
OF regulars Of 20, ,334 men.
THE VOLUNTEER CORPS.
The immenfe force which goes TO make mp
the volunteer regime en ts Of the United States
army may be explained to the reader by
the following statistics, m lde up in part from
the archives of the War Department as we'll
as from private sources, which we give as
followa: The number Of three months men
in the field mp TO August lst. was Il si5 The
number of volunteers for the war is $40 637 ,
which includes many of the three months
men: or this force, III ere are 5;7,2os infan.
try. H,e ,eH cavalry, 90 $50 artillery, and s,325
riflemen. Of the States furnishing the
largest number Of troops, Pennsylvania
stands first, having furnish l07 regimen t, Of
troops New York, loo; ONO. 81; Illinois,
so. New Mexico and Nevada have furnished
the smallest in mum Der each of them sendir z
only 1000 men. Little Rhode Island has
sent forth the greatest number in proper
ton to her size, for she has furnished four
batteries of artillery and three regiments
of infantry, making 5 sos men. Wiscon-
sin, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Ohio
have furnished the best equipped regi-
the most hardy and robust men, ,he
hrst minnesota regiment being the most
splendid body of physical soldiers in the
whole volunteer service. THIS immense
nf vyf,tr
SO regiments of cavalry, s regim erts and 10
batteries OF artillery, and 55S regiments or
infantry. "A recent addition to this force
consists of one regiment of lancers of l,2t0
men, and two batteries OF marine artillery
bering in toto 642 237 m~ com posing the
volunteer forces. The majority of this large
force is we'll drilled we'll armed, and equip
ped, and ready for service, many of the regi
ments being of1cered by graduates OF Wes,
Point, and officers of the regular army, who
hold a regular com m ission us we'll as one in
the volunteers.
UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENTS OF THE ARMY.
The uniforms and equipments Of the army,
both volunteer and regular, are chiefly of
ernment, though of late there has been
some Innovations The uniforms Of the
regular troops consist of a blue cloth tunic,
or sack, light blue pants, and the French
forage cap-the equipments being black
belts. haversacks, knal icks, and cartridge
boxes. The infantry uniform being trimmed
with blue lace, the artillery wear a similar
Uniform, trimmed with scarlet lace. The
cavalry wear a short jacket, trimmed with
yellow cord and lace, the dragons wear
the same, trimmed with orange, while the
rifles wear q dark green frock coat, trimm ed
with light green cord aud lace. The reg
ulatlon hat, used by enlisie men of all
grades, is Of dark felt, with black plume,
trimmed with tt g cord belonging to each de-
partment OF the service Epaulettes being
abolished, officers are designated by shoulder
ctrav hapr r ho. op,a ,T$ $haIr a
the service to which they are attached. The
uniforms of the volunteer forces We're first
Of gray cloth, as 1t was thought that color
was more serviceabie, and that in time of
ba tile the smoke would hide them from the
view of the eEemy. 1t being found, how
ever, that the rebel army had adopted that
color for their troops, Gen. McClelia n
changed the uniform of the volunteers to
that worn by the regulars, and as a general
thing most OF the regiments are uniformed
alike. Since the battle of Bnil Run, per-
mission has been given many of the new re-
giments to adopt some distinguishing style,
so that many of the volunteer COrps are
dressed in various colored Uniforms
While in Washington the past month your
correspondent saw a pumber of regiments
very gaily dressed. The Zouave style is worn
aves, now in BattimO ore consist of a rich blue
Jacket trimmed with scarlet and gold lace
and cord, wide blue Turkish trowsers de-
scending to the knees and boots of yellow
morocco. Added to this is II rich crimson
sash worn around the waist, which, with
the scarlet fez with blue tassel, or the parti-
cOlored silk turban, presents to the eye a
pleasing effect. The Berdan sharp shooters
wear a curious dark green sack-scarcely a
sack-in fact, more like a cavalry j1cket,
trimmed with light-Green cord, wide
blue bag-trowsers, and russet leggus -
They wear cap Of the old French infan try
pattern, surm ounted with a hens feather OF
dark green. The both New York regiment,
(Garde Lafayette, the IN EN- bers of whom ar e
,ln
French in fantry OF the line-blue frock coat
trimmed with scarlet, scarlet pants and the
French full dress infantry cap, with the
double scarlet pOmnon They have recently
adopted a gray uniform overcOat, trimmed
With scarlet cord, which gives them a gay
aud i'm posi- ng appearance The D'Ereneuil
Zouaves, magF ificent body OF men, dress
in the picturesque uniform of the Turcos.
while the SSH New York (lrish brigade)
wear the regulation uniform with the excep-
tion of the green plume In their hats-nn
EN- blem of nationality.
The arms used by the army are as follows
The cavalry are supplied with the Ames sa-
bre, the Colts revolver, Sharpe's, Barn
sides, and Halls carbines, both breech load.
ing and reve living The artillery are fur
nished with artillery sabres, hangers, and
Colts navy revOlvers, and the guns which
they use for field service are the Ames brass
six and twelve pound howitzer guns, the
Parrot rife shot and she'll guns, and the
Whitworth sreech- loading cannon. To give
the reader an idea CT The artillery used in our
army, 1t is su f1icient TO say that the army on
the Potomac is supplied with 300 field pieces
of the best quality; tie army under Gen.
Halleck, 90; that OF Gen Buell. in Kentucky,
60; that of Ger. McClernand, %; that Of Gen
Rosecrans, 90; being about 200 guns yet uu
attached, making, as for as can be ascer tain
ed, GS5 efficient guns. The infantry are armed
principally with the Springfield musket. the
MIME rifle musket, the Belgian musket, the
French and Austrian musltet, and the En-
field rifle with the sword bayonet, the latter
being most effective weapon. Many OF tn g
We stern regimen Is have been recently armed
with the Enfield rifle.
pIscIpLIEs OF THE ARMY.
The military education of West Point of.
ficers has been source of great benefi TO tn g
volunteer as well as the regular service --
The severe discipline and study which Is un
dergone at West Point by the young cadet,
| fits him, il be graduates, to hold not only
an honorable position in the army proper
but in any position to which he may be
| called as a civilian Having, of course, un.
dergoue a rigid discipline, he Is ready, whe q
he joins his company, 90 enforce the same
discip piine upon others under him and the
str ringeut rules b. which the regular troops
are governed, form thorough basis for the
| establishment OF q we'll governed and dis
| ciplined corps. The volunteer service,
however. is far different, It being com.
| ously been that of civiltau, and who know
nothing Of ilitary TACTICS and discipline,
having yet to learn 1t. The officers, too, are
(many Of them) selected more for some polit.
ical or home influence than for their military
| knowledge, and, consequently, u strict dis.
| ctpline, SO necessary to any army, cannot be
preserved. There are, however some excep.
| lons among officers who have been appoip, I'd
from the ranks for meritOrioVs services: and
| these alone, who have been throL gh the ron
| tine OF camp and field life, may command re.
spect and enforce discipline in q voluntes,
| OF Iganizatfon. With this great volunteer
| force in the field, OR ofacers can only ad
vance Its interests by knowledge ootai ned by