Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
Religion
Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Until just previous to the disastrous Bull Run campaign, no higher
organization than that of brigades was adopted; but a day or two before
the march commenced, General McDowell organized the brigades into
divisions. These were reorganized by General McClellan as the two and
three years volunteers joined the army. The organization of corps was
made in the spring of 1862, just before the commencement of the
Peninsula campaign, and is now the organization of the army.
The complete organization is now as follows:
_Regiments_, generally of ten companies.
_Brigades_, of four or more regiments.
_Divisions_, generally of three brigades.
_Corps_, generally of three divisions.
The various staffs have gradually been organized, until they now stand
(in the Army of the Potomac) as follows:
At the headquarters of the army:
_A Chief of Staff._
_An Assistant Adjutant-General._
_A Chief Quartermaster._
_A Chief Commissary._
_A Chief of Artillery._
_An Assistant Inspector-General._
_A Medical Director._
_A Judge Advocate-General._
_An Ordnance Officer._
_A Provost Marshal-General._
_A Chief Engineer._
_A Signal Officer._
_Aides-de-Camp._
The rank of these officers, as the staff is now composed, is as follows:
The chief of staff, a major-general; the assistant adjutant-general,
chief of artillery, and provost marshal, brigadier-generals; assistant
inspector-general, a colonel; medical director, chief engineer, judge
advocate-general, majors; the signal officer, chief commissary, and
ordnance officer, captains; the aides, of various ranks, lieutenants,
captains, and majors. Most of these officers do not derive their rank
from their position on the staff, but it has been given them in the
volunteer organization, or pertains to them in the line of the regular
or volunteer army. All the department officers (meaning all except
aides) have a number of assistants, and the general officers have staffs
and aides of their own, to which they are entitled by law. The total
number of officers on duty at the headquarters may amount to fifty or
more, and there is plenty of work for all of them during a campaign.
Besides the regular staff, constituted as above related, there are the
officers of an infantry regiment which furnishes guards and escorts, and
officers of cavalry squadrons detailed to furnish orderlies. The
headquarters of the army is therefore a town of considerable population.
At the headquarters of the different corps the staffs are as follows:
_An Assistant Adjutant-General_--Lieutenant-colonel.
_A Chief Quartermaster_--Lieutenant-colonel.
_A Chief Commissary_--Lieutenant-colonel.
_An Assistant Inspector-General_--Lieutenant-colonel.
[These officers derive their rank from their position, under a law of
Congress.]
_A Medical Director_--being detailed from
the senior surgeons of the regular or
Volunteer army, and ranking as a
major.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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