EXPLANATIONS OF THE PRECEDING TABLE.

1. Double rations are allowed by law to the General-in-Chief Commanding the Army of the United States; to cach general officer commanding in chief a separate army actually in the field; to each general officer commanding a geographical division embracing one or more geographical departments; and to each officer commanding a military geographical department. In the above table the rations of the general and lieutenant general are doubled.

2. Every commissioned officer of the United States Army, including retired officers, is entitled to one additional ration per day for every five years' service.

3. The rations of surgeons and assistant surgeons are doubled after ten years' continuous service in the same grade. This is in addition to the longevity rations to which they would otherwise be entitled.

4. Subaltern officers, employed on the General Staff, and receiving increased pay therefor, are not entitled to the additional or fourth ration provided by the Act of March 2, 1827, Sec. 2. 5. Officers retired from active service are entitled to tne pay proper of the highest staff or regimental rank held at time of retirement and four rations per day. Officers retired from active service for disability from wounds received in battle, upon the full rank of the command they held at the time such wound was received, are entitled to the retired pay of that rank or grade. Retired officers assigned to appropriate duty by the President are entitled, while so assigned and employed, to the full pay and emoluments of the grade upon which they may have been retired.

6. Ten dollars additional pay per month is allowed to each " Company officer" in actual command of a company.

7. If a fixed salary has been given by law to any military employé of the government, while in active duty, and a defined military rank, either actual or assimilated, has also been conferred upon him by law, his rank and not his salary will control his pay on retirement. This decision is applicable to all chaplains of the army, holding the military rank of captain of infantry, under the provisions of section 7, act of March 2, 1867, when retired from active service.

8. The forage allowances to mounted officers for their horses are required by law to be drawn in kind from the quartermaster's department; but whenever commuted, because the quartermaster is unable to furnish in kind, the commutation value for each horse actually kept in use and allowed by law is eight dollars per month.

ORGANIZATION OF THE REGULAR ARMY.

There were in the army January 1, 1868, one General, one Lieutenant General, and other officers, as follows:

There were 49 national cemeteries to each of which a superintendent was appointed by the president.

There were 406 Indian scouts employed in the territories and Indian country.

During the session of Congress in June, 1968, Secretary Schofield tramsmitted to the Committee on Military Affairs an estimate of the diminution of the Army by expiration of term of ser vice, death, and desertion up to January 1, 1869, and July 1 of the same year, as follows:

Artillery to July 1..
Infantry to Jan. 1..
Infantry to July 1.

The Artillery School was organized at the close of 1867, by order of the General of the Army, and Brevet Major General Barry, Colonel Second Artillery, was assigned to its command. It was established at Fortress Monroe, and one battery from each of the five regiments of artillery was ordered to that post as the instruction batteries for the first year. The course of instruc tion adopted for the school is both theoretical and practical, embracing a variety of subjects, and is pursued both by the officers and non-commissioned officers of the batteries. The prac tical course for the first year, closed November, 1868.

ARMORIES AND ARSENALS.

MILITARY GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS, DISTRICTS, AND DEPARTMENTS.

1. Division of the Missouri. The Departments of Dakota, of the Missouri, and of the Platte; headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri.

2. Division of the Pacific. The Departments of California and of the Columbia; headquarters at San Francisco, California.

3. Division of the Atlantic. The Departments of the East, of Washington, and of the Lakes; headquarters at Washington, D. C.

4. First Military District. The State of Virginia; headquarters at Richmond, Virginia.

5. Fourth Military District. The State of Mississippi; headquarters at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

6. Fifth Military District. The State of Texas; headquarters at Austin, Texas.

7. Department of the East. The New England States, the States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and the Post of Fort Delaware, Delaware; headquarters at New York City.

8. Department of the Lakes. The States of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, except the Post of Jeffersonville, Indiana; headquarters at Detroit, Michigan.

9. Department of the Cumberland. The States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia, and the Post of Jeffersonville, Indiana; headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky.

10. Department of the Missouri. The States of Missouri and Kansas, the Indian Territory, and the Territories of Colorado and New Mexico, except the Posts of Forts Morgan and Sedgwick, C. T., and the stage road from Fort Sedgwick to Denver, C. T.; headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 11. Department of the Platte. The States of Iowa and Nebraska, the Territory of Utah, the Territory of Wyoming, so much of the Territory of Montana as lies contiguous to the new road from Fort Laramie, D. T., to Virginia City, M. T., the Posts of Forts Morgan and Sedgwick, C. T., and the stage road from Fort Sedgwick to Denver, C. T.; headquarters at Omaha. Nebraska.

12. Department of Dakota. The State of Minnesota, the Territory of Dakota, and the Territory of Montana, except so much as lies contiguous to the new road from Fort Laramie, D. T., to Virginia City, M. T.; headquarters at St. Paul, Minnesota.

13. Department of California. The States of California and Nevada, and the Territory of Arizona; headquarters at San Francisco, California.

14. Department of the Columbia. The State of Oregon, and the Territories of Washington and Idaho; headquarters at Portland, Oregon.

15. Department of Washington. The States of Maryland and Delaware, except the Post of Fort Delaware, Delaware, and the District of Columbia; headquarters at Washington, D. C.

16. Department of the South. The States of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia.

17. Department of Louisiana.

The States of Louisiana and Arkansas;

headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana.

18. Department of Alaska. Territory of Alaska; headquarters at Sitka, Alaska Territory. (Belongs to the Division of the Pacific).

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established March 3, 1865, and attached to the War Department. By its terms. On the 16th

the law was limited to one year after the close of the rebellion. of July, A. D. 1866, the law was amended and continued in force for two years, and again on the 25th of July, 1868, an act was passed continuing the educational department of the Bureau, and the collections and payments of money due soldiers and sailors or their heirs, until otherwise ordered by Congress, but the other operations of the bureau were to be withdrawn from the reconstructed states on the 1st of January, 1869.

Major General O. O. Howard, was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau on the 12th of May, 1865, and entered upon his duties on the 15th. Ten Assistant Commissioners were appointed in the different states embraced under the Bureau; with one exception, these were officers in the army who were changed from time to time as changes were made in the different military departments.

The Bureau was organized with four departments embracing that of Lands, Records, Financial Affairs, and the Medical Department. The Claim Division was subsequently organized under the head of the land department.

The Bureau at first had supervision of farming property only, but the orders issued under the act by the President on the 2d of July, 1865, and by the Secretary of the Treasury soon after, placed the Bureau in charge of all real property which had been abandoned, captured, or confiscated, including building lots in cities and towns as well as plantations and farms.

As soon as possible after its organization, the land division proceeded to ascertain as accurately as possible the amount and character of the property committed to its charge.

By act of Congress approved June 21, 1866, all the public lands in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida were opened for entry by colored and white men without distinction, in half-quarter sections, or 80 acre lots. The officers and agents of the Bureau have been directed to instruct freedmen respecting the location and value of these public lands, and the mode of procedure in order to obtain possession of them. By order of assistant commissioners, surveys have been made and some assistance given in transporting families to their new homes. In February of 1868, 450 entries had been made by freedmen. Nearly 3,000 families have acquired homes in Florida, and great benefits have resulted from their settlement on these public lands.

Though less progress has been made in other states many freedmen have secured lands in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.

When the Bureau was established, no appropriation was made for its support. There were however in the several states, funds to a limited amount

derived from various sources which properly come under the control of the Bureau officers. The whole amount received from these sources from January 1, 1865, to January 1, 1868, or three years, was $1,605,694.19; the whole amount expended was $1,544,092.80, leaving in hands of disbursing officers January 1, 1868, $61,601.39.

Congress has made two appropriations for the support of this Bureau, as follows:

Buildings for schools and asylums, (including construction, rental and repairs.

Telegraphing and postage....

Internal revenue (tax withheld on salaries).

Southern relief...

Agricultural Bureau, (transferred)..

Total expended.......

Amount in Treasury December 31, 1867.

Amount in hands of disbursing officers December 31, 1867.

Amount on hand December 31, 1867....

$302,244.88 509,833.80 78,306.14

.196,906.54

.143,735.99

.1,245,271.76

470,834.37

131,052.54

.115,979.87

87,490.36

53,096.28

28.247.61

.558.914.91

35,546.98

4,981.55

.385,410.81

50,000.00

.$4,397,854.39

$5,736,984.28

645,911.33

.$6,382,895.61

The Bureau has received from the hands of Superintendents of negro affairs and other officers a portion of the state bounties of certain colored soldiers amounting to $112,396.44, of which $77,288.96 had been paid back January 1, 1868.

The resolution of Congress of March 29, 1867, provided that certain checks and treasury certificates issued in settlement of claims due colored soldiers or sailors who had resided in slave states should be made payable to the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. From April 17, 1867, to January 1, 1868, 7,362 certificates and checks had been received, amounting to $1,536,024.35, of which 5,892 amounting to $950,822.89 had been paid.

The bureau for some time after its organization afforded relief to the destitute of all classes in the southern states, but the number thus relieved has gradually diminished. In September, 1865, it was 74,951; in September, 1866, 29,819; and in September, 1867, 11,658. In addition to the regular relief furnished, Congress in March, 1867, authorized a general issue of provisions "to prevent starvation and extreme want in those southern and southwestern states, where a failure of the crops and other causes have occasioned wide-spread destitution." Under this act, corn and meat were dis