The New York herald., 1879-02-24
Herald Register for Febru-
ary, 1879.
ROSTER OF OFFICERS ON THE ACTIVE LIST
Relative Rank of Officers Of Staff
Departments.
lINEAL RANK OF LINE OFFICERS.
WASHINGTON. Feb. %. 1879.

publication before July l. and may not be sent 10 the
printers before September. The delay is attributable
several In the first place Congress in last
years Appropriation bill enacted as follows:-
That in every Official Army Register hereafter is
sued linea rank of all officers of the line of the
army shall be given separately for the different
OF the service, and ii the officer be promoted from
the ranks or shall have served in the volunteer army
either enlisted man or officer, his service
private and noncommissioned officer shall be given.
and in addition thereto the record of his service
volunteer
Before this law be complied with it has been
found necessary to call upon officers for detailed
statement of their services, to verify these state
ments by the records of the Adjutant Generals
Office and then to ask the Treasury Department to re-
port the first and last payment to each officer under
such volunteer and regular appointments as he may
have held. Any one acquainted with military for
mality, preciseness, routine, &C., will at once
that the official hunt for information to whether
Major General Yellow Sash was an enlisted man.
subaltern field officer either in the regular army
the volunteer force and if when he first and
last paid in his sundry capacities must necessarily
consume good deal of government time In the
place the printing fund of the War Department
has given out and the Secretary has asked Congress
for appropriation of $50 900 to supply deficiency
for printing and binding for the current fiscal year.
FEATURES THE COMING REGISTER.
The coming Register, which is looked for with
more than usual interest, will contain several
features. There will be regimental roster, giving
substantially the dates and facts usually printed with
the addition of the company of each captain and suba
of the line. and nea roster showing the relative
rank of officers, according to corps arm, with
record of their services commissioned officers and
enlisted men, and the date of first and last payment
under each appointment 1t is stated that the new
matter to be embodied in the Register for 1879 will
swell it to a volume of FIVE six hundred pages,
nearly three times the size of the ordinary pamphlet
editions Under the circumstances the readers of the
HERALD will no doubt appreciate the carefully pre-
pared register published herewith. several months in
advance of the War Department version. in which
will be found the of all officers the active
list. with the relative rank of general and staff off,
GERS and the inea rank of all officers Of the line.
NUMBER oFFIcERs.
1t will be seen that including West Point pro-
fessors, there 2,136 officers in active service
namely:-In the staff departments, including general
officers general. lieutenant general, major gen.
erals Is brigadier generals % colonels 43 lieutenant
coones. 174 majors III captains 92 first lieuenans,
IL second lieutenants and 2s post chaplains Total
staff 567.
In the line of the army 80 colonels 80 lieutenant
colonies, 81 majors 431 captains, Sos first lieu
tenants. All second lieutenants. and regimental
chaplains. Total line officers, sol.
Professors at the Military Academy. 8.
Aggregate 2,l36.
There are 55 vacancies. as follows:-
Inspector Generals Department, major.
Quartermasters Department, lieutenant colonel
Medical Department, major and 10 first lieuten-
ants.
Corps of Engineers. colonel. lieutenant colonel
and second lieutenant.
Ordnance Department, captains.
Post chaplans, 2.
Cavalry major, chaplain and second lieuten-
Infantry. colonel. lieutenant colonel 2 majors
and 10 second heutenants.
law last eOf
the vacancies be filed except the "a second
lieutenancies of cavalry and infantry. Nine of
these are in coored regiments. and be ap-
pointed 10 any OF them except graduates of West
Point and enlisted men.
The supernumerary officers inspector generals
!colonels). judge advocates (najors and Il store
keepers (captains).
RELATIVE RANK.
The law and regulations which determine the rela-
tive rank of officers follows:-
When commissions are of the same date the rank
Is to be decided between officers of the same regi-
ment or corps by the order of appointment between
officers of different regiments corps.
Ftrst-By rank in actual service when appointed
Secotd-By former rank and service in the army
marine corps.
Ta,rd-By lottery among such as have not been in
the military service of the United States. (ar. s.
Regulations of 1861
In fixing relative rank between officers of the same
grade and date of appointment and commission the
time which each may have actually served as a COM
missioned officer of the United States. whether
tnuousy at different periods, shall be taken into
account and in computing such time no distinction
shall bc made between service a commissioned Of
1851 in the volunteer forces whether under appoint
ment or commission from the President from the
GoveSnor of state. (Section l2l9 Revised Statutes
In the following register captains OF the Medical
corps are placed in the relative positions to which
their rank in the army entities them. In the register
for 1878 they appear in the order of their original a
pointncnt as assistant surgeons and first lieuen-
ants. but section II of the act of July 2 1866 gives
them the rank and pay OF captain after three years
service, either regular volunteer. II would ap-
pear. therefore, that their relative POSITIONS both
their own department and i'll the army at large is
as
captains, but the roll of the Medical Department
presents the anomaly of an assistant surgeon ()r
Cleary) whose rank captain dates from January l.
1865, being thirty-ve files below another whose cap
fancy dates from July I, 1868
AUTHORIZATIONS USED.
, In the subJoined HERALD Army Register for 1879
the following authorizations are used "A. q. D.. Adj
neers; O. y o.. Chief Signal Officer; l. g.. Inspector
Generals Department; NJ. D. Medical Department;
o. d.. Ordnance Department; +. D., Pay Department;
o. VI. d.. Quartermastcr's Department; S. C., Signal
Corps; 5. d.. Subsistence Department.
RELATIVE RANK OF GENERAL AND STAFF oFr1cFns
General of O.e army
William L. Sherman.
Lieutenant General.
Philip II. Sheridan.
Aajor Generals.
J. Winfield s. Hancock.
. John VI. Schoheld
D. Irwin Mcdowell.
Brtgadicr Generals.
i. Nj. c. Mcigs, Quartermastcr General.
2. John Pope, United States Army.
.. Joseph X. Barnes, Surgeon General
=. Oliver o. Howard, United States Army.
Q. Alfred II. Terry, United States Army
@. Edward o. & Ord. United states Army
z. Andrew A. Humphreys, CHER of Engineers,
:. Edward ID. Townsend. djutant General.
W. christopher G. Augur. United States Army.
10 George Crook United States Amry.
III. stephen V. Benet. Chief OF Ordnance.
IL. Robert Macfeey, Commisssry General Of Sub
sstence.
10. Benjamin Alvord, Paymaster General
a. William Nick. Dunn. Judge Advocate General
10. Randolph B. Marcy. Inspector General.
Coores NJ Stag Deparfnenls
i. ~ -. Sackct, l. q. 10. j. IT, simpson, G. f.
:. E SshrlVcr, !. u. 16 X. g. Drum, A. u. ID.
o. a. n' Ds'ls, u IL. L. Z. Easton, q. MD.
o. j. q. barnard, G. Il. 49, H. b. Tower ~ E
o. A. W. Brown, 4. ID. 20 MDLsimpson, 4. ID.
\. A. j. Mycr, G. $. o. ~ j. H. gaxt.r Nj II
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