Thomas County cat., 1890-04-24

always we'll used, and sometimes sadly
abused, as shall proceed to show.
The practical workings OF the sys-
tenn were awkward enough. Occasions
came by the hundreds-before the war
closed they were numbered by the
thousands-when the General in COM
mand Of an army wished to reward the
heroism of some gallant officer or SOL
dier by higher commission. He was
absolutely powerless to promote. The
President of the United States could
not do it! The Colonel of regiment
could make q non commissioned officer.
and that was just as far as the power
went, outside of the State. All that
the General. all that the President
could do was to write to the Governor,
five hundred or a thousand miles away.
that Lieutenant Smith or Sergeant
Jones ought to be promoted; and in
the course of weeks or months, if the
Governor was willing, the commission
came to the field
Such system, as will readily be
seen, led to intrigue, the use of "influ-
ence, and the application of political
methods to the matter of army promo
tions. 1t thus sometimes happened
| that the merltOrlous were passed over,
and those promoted who were un-
worthy: because in nine cases out of
ten the Governor could have no per-
sonal knowledge, and had to rely upon
the statements of interested parties.
But fifty times worse than this was
| the situation when a Governor insisted
on commissioning some ambitious civil
ian who had never smelled powder,
except on Independence Day, to va
cancy in fighting regiment in the
field. This was frequently done, and
it sometimes resulted in an uproar in
camp that was only less than mutiny.
Neither officers nor men felt like hav-
ing civilian put over them After
bearing the burden and heat of the
fight, and learning to be soldiers
through blood and toll, it was simply
intolerable that a greenhorn should
be sent among them to exercise COM
mand and to enjoy honors that had
been worthily won and deserved by
those at the front
But what could be done about it?
How could the civilian appointee be
kept out of the place to which he had
received commission?
The thing was usually done, and eff
fectually done. There was ALWAYS per-
feet accord in veteran regiment, from
the Colonel down, as to keeping out the
civilians; and the Adjutant General at
Washington saw to it that the neces-
sary machinery for this purpose was
promptly furnished.
of State could commission its regi-
mental officers, the commission alone
did not get them into the military SER
vice of the United States. They must
first be regularly mustered into SER
vice. And as the war went on, and
the Adjutant Generals Office of the
War Department became expert in
issuing general orders" for the con-
troll of the volunteers, it became more
and more evident that the man who
had a military commission from Gov
ernor had taken but the first step to-
ward becoming an officer of volunteers.
Actual service, the losses from bat
ties and disease, diminished the fight
ing regiments so greatly that, until
recruited to the maximum strength, it
was a common occurrence, under the
existing orders, for one of them not to
be entitled to full complement of
field officers, and for a company not to
be entitled to a captain and two lieu
tenants. Wherever this state of things
existed the rule was mercilesslv APP
piled to the civilian who wanted to
wear shoulder-straps. He was brusque-
ly informed that, Notwithstanding the
Governors commission, there was no
vacancy in the regiment in the pro-
posed rank. Under such. circum-
stances, the ambitious civilian usually |
gave it up as bad job and went home, |
satisfied with his brief experience at |
the front. After the cool reception |
given him he was easily able to see |
that service in that regiment would |
not be pleasant thing for him.
It frequently happened, however,
that the commission bearer was able to |
produce to a mastering officer the evi-
dence that there was vacancy In the
desired grade that could be filled.
Armed with his commission and mus
term roll, the new officer would pre-
sent himself at regimcntal headquar-
ters, when something like the following
was likely to occur At least, it did oc
cur many times:
New Oficer-Good morning, Colo
mel. am Captain --, assigned 70
your regiment. Here are my papers.
l report for duty.
Colonel-Ah, yes; we've heard of
you. There's a letter here some
where from Governor about you
Have you been before the Examining
Board?
New Officer-Why, no, sir; did not
think that necessary.
Colonel-But it is. Adjutant, write
up to corps headquarters, requesting
an order for Captain to report
to the Military Examining Board at
Washington Immediately.
New Officer (aghast)-But really,
sir, is this usual?
Colonel (severely)-No, it's not usu-
al. But it'll have to be done in your
case.
New Officer-I don't suppose I can
pass such an examination as they will
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