Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-24
MILITARY OFFICERS.
THE VARIOUS RANKS FROM COR
PoRAL TO GENERAL.

ceeded In Obtaining the Much Coveted
Highest Military Title - The Rank and
File of the Army.
To begin with the military unit, pri
rate Is IN adjective that has become
noun. Originally tho man in tho ranks
was a private soldier. The word soldier
has boon dropped, for brevity's sake, and
now tho man with the gun is simply
private
The rank and flo Is what tho private
belongs to. A rank is line of mon stand.
Ing side by side; q file is a line of men
standing one behind another. The front
of file Is always ono man; its depth may
be any number. When men arg formed in
two ranks, II file consists of two men. Tho
rank and file therefore constitutes the body
of forco of soldiery.
The title of the lowest noncommlssioned
officer is corporal. He has charge of a
squad, posts and relieves sentries and has
certain disciplinary control in camp and
barracks. Sergeant (Which is properly
pronounced sargent) is appointed to pre-
serve discipline, teach tho drill, command
detachmcnts of escorts and tho like.
The lowest grade Of commissioned OFF,
GERS is lieutenant, and the title comes from
the French lieu, place, and tenant (from
the Latin tenens), holding. A lieutenant
therefore is one who holds or supplies the
place Of his superior in the performance of
any duty or in his absence and consc-
quently tho officer is one who acts for his
captain.
The title captain, applied to the COM
mander Of company, Is from the Latin
caput, a head In the Bible tho title was
given to kings or princes, generals or COM
mandors Of armies, governors of provinces
otc., and Shakespeare used it in the sense
of chief commander.
Major is the title Of the officer next in
rank above a captain. He commands a
battalion Tho word Is compounded with
the titles of certain noncommissioned Off
GERS to show that they are the chiefs of
their ranks, as sergeant major, drum ma
jor, etc.
A lieutenant colonel Is an officer who
holds the same relationship to colonel
that a lieutenant holds to q captain. In
some European armies the lieutenant col.
oncl is tho actual commander Of his regi.
ment, the colonelcy being honorary For
example, Queen Victoria and the Prince
of Wales arc honorary colonies of certain
regiments in the German army.
Colonel was originally coronel and was
introduced into English from the Spanish
about the middle Of the sixteenth century.
With each regiment are q number Of
staff officers, commissioned and noncom-
missioned. A comm ssioned officer Is one
to whom the head Of the national or state
government has given document con
ferring upon him authority to perform the
various functions Of his rank. A nom
commissioned company officer holds his
place by appointment Of the company COM
mander with the approval Of tn COM
mander Of the regiment; member Of tho
, noncommissioned staff is appointed by the
regimental commander.
A very important commissioned officer
of the regimental staff Is the adjutant,
whose title comes from adjutans the pres
ent participle of the Latin verb adjutare
Ito assist, and whose province it Is to aid
his commander in the discharge of the de-
. tails of his military duty. The records Of
the re iment are in his charge, he re-
ceivcs he returns from company COM
manders, receives and communicates Or
ders, forms tho parades etc. His duties
are multifarious, and he is altogether the
busiest officer OF a regiment II he performs
them all faithfully.
The functions Of the regimentnl COM
| missariat In the United States army are
divided between the quartermaster and
the commissary Of subsistence. These off,
GERS are usually, like the adjutant, leu
tenants, The quartermastcr furnishes
transportation, quarters, clothing and
camp and garrison equipage, fuel, horses,
forage and stabling, and the commissary
of subsistence provides food supplies. A
quartermaster is literally an officer in
charge Of the housing of troops. Head
Ia. 10 Al.
head or commanding officer of company
battalion, regiment, brigade division
corps or army and may be in the field or
. elsewhere
The noncommissioned staff includes the
sergeant major who is an assistant to the
adjutant, the quartermaster sergeant and
commissary sergeant, assistants to the
quartermaster and commissary, tho hospi-
tai steward, assistant to the surgeon etc.
, Officers above the rank of colonel are
called general officers. The holder of O
general commission came to be called a
general and general commissions were in
course of time granted to officers lower in
rank than commander in chief. A
brigadicr general ranks noxt above col
, onel and commands brigade, a major
/ general is tn, next step higher and may
command n division, u corps, an army or
department A major general Is the
highest permanent rank In our army. In
the British and German armies, however,
major generals are the lowest permanent
general officers and in action usually COM
mand brigades. In modern European
armies the specific rank Of general is usual
ly subordinate to q marshal or field mar
shall In this country it is the highest
military ranl attainable.
The president is titular commander in
chief Of the armies of tho United States
but the rank of general has been conferred,
under temporary laws only, upon four
, American Washington, Grant
Sherman and short time before his
death, in 1888, Sheridan. The rank Of
lieutenant general Is, like that Of general
honorary and conferred by act Of congress
} 1t has been held by Washington, Grant,
Sherman and Sheridan and is now held by
Schotleld, WI is on the retired list. Gen
eral Scott was only brevetted Lieutenant
; general.
The United States army has at Wash
fngton an adjutant general, a quartermas-
ter general, paymaster general, COM
, missary general, surgeon general an in
spector general, q judge advocate general
1.-THE chief law otfioer) chief signal Off
Ger, chief of engineers and chief of
ordnance, all with the rank of brigadier
general, and each Of these departments Is
; represented on the stats of commanding
generals by officers of lower rank than u
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