Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-05-02


lment being IN the military service of +
the United States, 1t would belong to /
the President to fill vacancies happen /
ing by the casualties Of service, and to /
commission new officers.
But In practice this was not done.
There was no power which the "War
Governors" clung to more jealousy
and insisted on more pertinaciOusIy, +
than that of commissioning officers in
the volunteer regiments of their re-
spective States. 1t was q power not
always well 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
herOlsm of some gallant officer or sol
d1er by higher commission. He was
absolutely pOwerless to promote. The
President of the United States could
not do 1t The Colonel of a regiment
could make 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 q 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 a system, as viii readily be
seen, led to intrigue, the use of "infiu-
| ence, and the application of political
methods to the matter of army promo
lions. 1t thus sometimes happened
that the meritOriOus were passed over,
and those promoted who were IN
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 q Governor insisted
on commissioning some ambitious civil
ian who had never smelIed powder,
| except on independence Day, to a va
cancy IN fighting regiment in the
held. This was frequently done, and
1t sometimes resulted in an uproar in
| camp that was only less than a mutiny.
Neither officers nor men felt like hay
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 q?
How could the civilian appOintee be
kept out of the place to which he had
received q commission?
The thing was usually done, and eff
fectually done. There was always per-
feet accord in q 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.
Although nobody but the Governor
of a 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 a 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, 1t
was common occurrence, under the
existing orders, for one Of them not to
be entitled TO q full complement of
field officers, and for q company not to
be entitled to a captain and two lieu
tenants. Wherever this state of things
existed the rule was mercilessly APP
piled to the civilian who wanted to
wear shOuIder-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 a 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 a pleasant thing for him.
1t frequently happened, however,
that the commission bearer was able to
produce to a mastering officer the eyi-
dence that there was vacancy in the
desired grade that could be filed. /
Armed with his commission and mus
term roll, the new officer would pre-
sent himself at regimental headqUar-
tiers, 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 to |
your regiment. Here are my papers. !
I report for duty.
Colonel-Ah, yes; we've heard of !
you. There's a letter here some !
where from CtOvarOOy -- about Won
Have you been before the Examining
Board?
New Oficer-Why, no, sir; I did not |
+I,-rl- 4I,o4 y,ooagso,.Ly