Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-08-23
The Re.arrangemcnt Of Army Com.
mands.

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partment in regard TO the re.arrange-
ment of military commands, may require
some explanation for non-mllitary read
ers. We should premise that the former
arrangement, which has been In force
for the past year, was founded on the
following basis:
First-Eeach OF the five major.gen-
erals of the regular army was given a
grand military division.
Second-Each Of re divisions was
composed OF two or more departments,
COMMANDED by brigadler- generals of the
regular army or by major generals Of
volunteers, and the departments were
again sub.dlvded into districts, gener.
ally consisting of single State or Ter
ritory.
When our armies were broken up, the
generals OF the volunteer forces were
each ordered TO report to Some depart
ment commander for assignment to duty
or other order. As rule, those gen.
eral officers who had been most distin-
guished in the field Were assigned TO
some duty, while the Others were allowed
to 60 to their places of residence and re-
port to the Adjutant- General of the
Army-that is, were placed on the list
for honorable dismissal. In this way
the number of general officers was re-
duced in perhaps the wlsest manner
From the time of the first general
"weeding out" until now, the division
and department commanders have been
recommending the dismissal Of volun-
teer generals, as fast as in the judgment
of the former, their services were no
longer needed. The somewhat compli-
Gated system of divisions and depart
ments not only worked well in this way,
but by giving large territorial commands
to the regular ma or. generals, more uni
formity Of policy was obtained than if
the departments had had no supervision.
The necessity for this arrangement
has, however, passed away, and now a
return has been made to the system
which prevailed before the war-that of
departments. The major. generals re-
tain, as department commanders, nearly
the same commands as before. General
Meade has lost that portion of his d.
vision which included Maryland, Dele
ware and the seaboard States below the
Potomac. He has still the New England
States, New York Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. He thus haslcharge of the most
important part of our seaboard and
northern frontier. Gen. Thomas loses
none of his division command, nor does
General Sheridan. General Sherman
retains division command-losing
only the unimportant Department of
the Lakes, formerly that Of the Ohio.
His command is the most important
of all during peace times. AS he has to
protect our northern frontiers and the
overland routes against the Indians,
there was the utmost propriety-aside
from his rankin giving him supervi-
sing power over the three departments
within - his command. There is the
same reason for giving like authority
to Gen. Halleck on the Pacific coast,
whose division embraces two depart
ments.
The departments are, with one excep-
ton, given to generals in the regular ar
my. The exceptional case is that of
General Sickles, who retains command
of the Department Of the South. AS
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named by their regular rank, .he out
ranks all except the lieutenant general
and the major generals. The assignments
have nearly all been most judiciously
made. General Hancock, who has
command of the Department of the Mis-
souri,, has an extensive frontier ex-
perience. General Terry, assigned to a
department to be made by Lieut-G General
Sherman out of that of the Platte and
the Missouri, has had no frontier expert
ence whatever. The assignment Of Gen.
eral Candy to the Department of Wash
ington looks as though the War Depart
ment intended to avail itself of the as
sistance of that able and experienced
bureau officer. General Rosecrans has
no assignment whatever, and is not like
ly to have one.