Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by Cornell University Digital Collections) THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: DEVOTED TO Literature and National Policy. VOL. VI.--JULY, 1864.--NO. I. New York: JOHN F. TROW, 50 GREENE STREET, (FOR THE PROPRIETORS.) 1864. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by JOHN F. TROW, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND ELECTROTYPER. 50 Greene street, New York. * * * * * +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All | |other inconstencies in spelling or punctuation are as in the original.| +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS. _SECOND PAPER._ Having, in the preceding paper, described the general organization[1] of an army, we proceed to give a succinct account of some of the principal staff departments, in their relations to the troops. Army organization--notwithstanding the world has always been engaged in military enterprises--is of comparatively recent institution. Many of the principles of existing military systems date no farther back than to Frederic the Great, of Prussia, and many were originated by Napoleon. Staff departments, particularly, as now constituted, are of late origin. The staff organization is undergoing constant changes. Its most improved form is to be found in France and Prussia. Our own staff system is of a composite, and, in some respects, heterogeneous character--not having been, constructed on any regular plan, but built up by gradual accretions and imitations of European features, from the time of our Revolution till the present. It has, however, worked with great vigor and efficiency. The staff of any commander is usually spoken of in two classes--the departmental and the personal--the latter including the aides-de-camp, who pertain more particularly to the person of the commander, while the former belong to the organization. Of the departmental staff, the assistant adjutant-generals and assistant inspector-generals are denominated the 'general staff,' because their functions extend through all branches of the organization, while the other officers are confined exclusively to their own departments.