The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-15
MARKS OF RANK OF THE ARMY.

ferent ranks held by the officers.
Usually the rank of a military or ma
val man is obtained by long service or
nv aDpointment by congress or the
nresident. Sometimes, however, rank is
given TO an officer because he has peeh
brave during a battle or has done
something which attracts the attention
of his superiOrs.
In order to distinguish an ofncer from
a common soldier the government mas
adonted various marks of rank, which
are worn by the officers. both IN Tune OF
war and peace. During the former
these signs are less conspicuous, Tor,
during a battle the sharpshooters al
WAYS try to pick off the officers, so that
the soldiers Will have no one TO COM
mand them.
IL any of the boys who read this ar
ticle should, in time of peace, go ABOARD
a man-of-war or in gathering OIL ma
val officers. he would notice great
amount of gold lace upon their uni
forms and see the insignia OF rank
rnOn their shoulders. But in war time
each officer puts away his gaudy uni
FORM Instead of the shoulder Straps,
the mark Of rank is worn upon the col
lar of the coat, as shown in the illus
tration. An admiral, the highest Of
fcer in the navy, wears four silver
stars and two anchors upon his shoul-
der straps or collar. 4 vice admiral,
three stars and one anchor; rear .ad-
miral, an anchor with star on either
side: a commodore. star with an
anchor on seither side: captain,
silver eagle and two anchors; ana
lieutenant, an anchor with two silver
bars on each side. There are also many
petty or nom commissioned officers who
wear the insignia of their rank on their
sleeve. above the elbow. The higher
officers also wear gold bands upon their
sleeves. running about the wrists. The
shoulder straps are four and one
quarter incnes long by one and one
half inches wide. They are made OF
dark blue cloth with border of dead
gold a quarter of an inch wide, the de-
vice being embroidered inside the b9r-
der.
The lowest commissioned officer in
the navy is an ensign. He wears a
single silver anchor on his shoulder
strap. 1t is the ambition of each en-
sign to change his straps for those of
a lieutenant. There were many cases
during our last war when an ensign
showed great bravery during battle,
and his name was sent to washington
with a recommendation from his COM
mander that he be promoted. Often
an ensign was sent on a dangerous
mission and got his lieutenant's straps
in that way Usually. however, he has
to wait until some officer above him
is promoted or dies or retires, and then
he moves up in rank.
STRAPS AND STARS.
Every sailor and soldier knows that,
in time of war, his superiors are
watching him. and that if he shows
himself a brave man he stands good
oh nf heinz a r
ter of great pride to add an extra bar
to his shoulder straps, or to have one
of the many insignias of rank put on
his uniform. There is beside the honor
of being an officer better pay with each
additional raise in rank, more comfort
able quarters and more personal lib
erty. All these things make the SOL
diers and sailors more ambitious to
gain promotion.
In the army the insignia of rank is
somewhat similar to that of the navy.
but even in active service an army
officer still wears his shoulder straps.
The general is the highest officer of the
army. His rank is shown by an eagle
with a star on each side. A lieutenant
general wears three stars on his Shout
der straps; a major general. two: a
brigadier general, one; a colonel, a sill
yer eagle; q lieutenant colonel, two
silver leaves: a major, two gold leaves;
a captain, four silver bars, and a lieu
tenant, two bars. The non-commis-
stoned officers wear their devices of
rank upon their sleeve The generals
may also be distinguished by the ar
rangement of the buttons on his coat
One OF the jokes credited to General
Grant was about the buttons on his
coat. major general wears two rows
of buttons, nine in each row, and each
row divided into groups of three. One
day Grant was clad in military coat
much the worse for wear, and from
which all but three buttons had been
worn. An officer brought him word
that he had just been promoted to the
rank of major general
We'll, said Grant, pointing to the
group of three buttons, you see have
anticipated the order and have my
major generals uniform"
PRIZE MONEY.
Beside the chance which a soldier or
sailor has of becoming an officer and
wearing an insignia of rank. there is
another thing which he works for dur
ing war times, but this is confined prin-
cipally to the navy; it is the matter of
prize money. 1t is the rule of the Unit
ed States navy that when the crew of
a vessel capture another ship the prize
is to be sold and a part of the proceeds
divided among the officers and sailors.
If the captured ship was equal in fight
ing strength to the captor ali the prize
money goes to the victors, but if the
prize was weaker half goes to the gov
eminent and the remaining half is di-
vided among the crew and officers.
In such a division the commissioned
officers come in for the larger share, so
IT is well to be as high an officer as
possible. The commander of a fleet re-
ceives one-twentieth of all the prize
money awarded to any ship in his