The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-11-29
TIE NEW VOLUNTEER ARMY CORPS

& An order has Just been issued from the War
Department for the raising and organizing Of
new Volunteer Army Corps. 1t provides
that the Corps shall consist o. not less than
twenty thousand infantry, enlisted for not less
than one year, designated as the First Corps.
The organization is to be in the District Of
Columbia, commencing on the 1st Of Decem-
Der, 1854 and continuing until the lst OF
January, 1865. Attention is due to the fact
that the privates will consist only Of able
bodied men who have served honorably tor
mot lees than two years, and who are
therefore not subject to draft. By this pro-
vision a most magni6cently effective corps
win be raised, consisting not of raw recruits,
who. whatever may be their personal valOr
and ambition, do not possess the infinite ad-
vantage of having these disciplined by expe
rionce, but OF veterans, who through the ordeal
of many an engagement have learned how
fields are lost as well as won. The officers,
also, are TO be commissioned from such az
have honorably served for not less than two
years. This provision will twine into the SER
vice many an officer whose light has hitherto
been hid Well-disciplined and experienced
troops will be commanded by well-disciplined
and experienced officers. Both troops and COM
manders will act harmoniously together, for
they will have been educated in one common
and sternly-teachiug school Of war. BY these
two provisions, then, we shall have in the First
Corps an organization which viii embody the
absolutely best results of military discipline,
and illustrate them in perfection. Wherever
the First Corps is, wherever its influence eX-
tends, we may expect remedy for those
failures which, amid all our successes, marked
the commencement Of the war. If everything
else were wanting to convince Us of this, con-
viction would be found in the fact that this
same Volunteer Corps islto be commanded by
Major-General WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.
Another special feature in the new order IS,
that recruits win be credited to the district in
which they or their families are domiciled, and
viii be paid a special bounty of three hundred
dollars from the substitute fund upon being
mustered into service, or two hundred dollars
more than one years. men have been entitled
to. The city, county, ward, and In those
cases where they are given, State bounties,
will thus amount at the least to six hun1 d
dollars. These advantages, all included within
the service Of one year, will not fail to be ap-
preciated by every veteran to whom they
appeal.
stu another inspiring provision in this order
Is the regulation by which every recruit who
preserves his arms to the end Of his term may
retain them as his own upon being honorably
discharged from the service. Perhaps this is
the only thing wanted to add the spiciest
relish to the soldiers life 1t is provision
which is peculiar to the French, and which
"tells" immensely upon every recruit. The
soldiers arms are the tools of his profession
They are the instruments wherewith he proves
bow much valor, how much GOODNESS, how much
experience how much dexterity, how much
ambition he has in him. Let his arms be pre-.
served and he will not need, when the war is
over, to shoulder his crutch to show how field
were won. He can shoulder those arm
instead.
Then, too, it is well to remember that thi
Volunteer First Corps is to be a nations
organization. 1t win represent the Union, an
not individual States. 1t is well that this
SO. The Corps will be composed of the fine
veterans that can be collected, commanded
the finest officers. Without disparagement
any Union soldier who, in the present strui
Gle, has learned what gigantic warfare mean
IL may be considered that this Corps vi
naturally embody much that is lost in OF
whole military organization. In it we shi
look for the exercise of great prowess, whit
shall result in unprecedented success.