REPORT OF THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, October 9, 1886. SIR: I have the honor to submit my annual report for the year ending September 30, 1886. MILITIA. In accordance with requests of State authorities, officers of the Army were detailed during the past summer and fall to inspect militia encampments at the following points: Alabama.-At Mobile and Selma, by Capt. R. G. Howell, Second United States Artillery. Connecticut.-At Niantic, by First Lieut. C. A. L. Totten, Fourth United States Artillery.. Dakota.-At Aberdeen, by Lieut. Col. E. F. Townsend, Eleventh United States Infantry.! Illinois. At Springfield, by Capt. G. Lawson, Twenty-fifth United States Infantry. Indiana.-At La Fayette, by Maj. R. Lodor, Third United States Artillery Iowa.-At Oskaloosa and Marshalltown, by Col. R. I. Dodge, Eleventh United States Infantry. Kansas.-At Fort Riley reservation, by Lieut. Col. C. E. Compton, Fifth United States Cavalry. Kentucky.-At Crab Orchard Springs, by Capt. J. L. Tiernon, Third United States Artillery. Maine.-At Bangor, by Capt. E. Field, Fourth United States Artillery. Massachusetts.-At South Framingham, Hingham, and Essex, by Capt. G. B. Rodney, Fourth United States Artillery. Michigan. At Island Lake, by Maj. A. C. M. Pennington, Fourth United States Artillery. Minnesota.-At New Ulm and at White Bear Lake, by Maj. J. M. Bacon, Seventh United States Cavalry. Missouri.-At Sweet Springs, by Capt. T. Schwan, Eleventh United States Infantry. New Hampshire.-At Concord, by Lieut. Col. H. W. Closson, Fifth United States Artillery. New York.-At Peekskill, by Maj. R. H. Jackson, Fifth United States Artillery. Ohio. At Washington Court-House, Springfield, Mount Vernon, and Sandusky, by First Lieut. A. P. Blocksom, Sixth United States Cavalry. Pennsylvania.-At the various regimental encampments, by Maj. W. J. Volkmar, assistant adjutant-general. Rhode Island-At the State Camp Ground, by Col. C. L. Best, Fourth United States Artillery. Vermont.-At Burlington, by First Lieut. W. H. Coffin, Fifth United States Artillery. The reports, submitted herewith, of the several officers designated by the War Department to inspect the encampments of State troops are highly interesting and worthy of careful consideration. While just but kind criticism points out many defects (none that cannot be remedied by men exhibiting the military zeal and pride that animate the State militias), the reports unmistakably evidence a slowly maturing temper and character destined to still more closely unite the Regular Army and the militia, the twin parts of the defensive power of the Government. A careful perusal of these reports leads me to make the following general remarks: State encampments, to be of absolute benefit, should at least be of ten days' duration, and, while established at convenient points looking to economy in the concentration of the troops, should be at a sufficient distance from the homes of the members of the command in order to overcome business and social influences, which seriously affect efforts at imparting instruction and holding the men in hand for drills, target practice, guard duty, &c. Camps should be divested of every appearance of holiday character. The programme of military exercises should exclude elementary company drills, and the time of the encampment devoted to instruction and practice in skirmish and battalion drills and guard duty. As most of the fighting in the future must be done in open order, a thorough acquaintance with the skirmish drill is of the highest importance. Officers should be required to recite upon the duties of guards and sentinels, and instruction in guard duty be given to the men in the armories. So far as fatigue uniform or dress for field service is concerned, it would be of advantage for the authorities of each State to prescribe a simple, plain, but serviceable fatigue uniform for all its troops to which companies might gradually conform within a limited time, say one year. This is not intended to interfere with the right of each command to wear such full-dress uniform as it may have selected for wear on reviews, parades, and other occasions of pure ceremony. Obsolete arms and ammunition in the hands of State troops should be replaced by improved guns of same pattern as in the hands of the Regular Army, and suitable ammunition provided. On this subject I beg to renew the recommendation made in my last report. Exhibition drills, while interesting as showing to what degree of mechanical precision a body of men can be trained to attain in movements and motions, are an undesirable feature of military camps. In many instances the development of extreme smartness in drill involves the neglect of some of the most important and solid parts of a soldier's training. The report on the target practice at the Maine encampment is most creditable to the troops participating, and demonstrates what results can be obtained from careful instruction and practical discipline in this important exercise. The great want is a thorough, systematic course of instruction prescribed from State headquarters and rigidly insisted on, and the establishment in each State of an examining board, before whom ignorant and incompetent officers could be brought with a view to their elimination from the military service of the State. Every officer elected should, before appointment, be subject to examination by a board of officers, of which, if possible, the regimental and brigade commanders and the inspector-general should be members. The material composing the militia of the several States is generally excellent, and zeal and intelligence the rule; but the former must be wisely directed and the latter systematically cultivated. MILITARY COLLEGES. The tables submitted exhibit the apportionment of details corrected to October 1, 1886, and a synopsis of the data contained in the reports of the several officers performing the duties of professor of tactics and military science. These reports show a steadily growing interest in military instruction, as evidenced by the increased percentage of students attending drills, &c., and the degree of appreciation of the value of the system on the part of the college authorities. The aptitude of American youths for military exercises is undoubtedly good, and, when supplemented by the frank and full recognition on the part of the several faculties that military training (beyond the enforced physical exercise it gives) is of positive service to the student in the ordinary avocations of civil life, will realize all the practical advantages resulting from a course of instruction enforcing manliness of character and deportment. To reap, however, the full benefits of the law authorizing the detail of officers of the Army as military instructors, it is imperative that the professor of tactics and military science be a recognized member of the faculty of the institution at which on duty, with equal vote, and that military instruction be given a co-ordinate position with the other departments of study. REGULATIONS OF THE ARMY. The amendments and changes in the Regulations rendered necessary to make the latter conform strictly with existing laws have become so numerous that a new edition is an imperative need and is earnestly recommended. DISCHARGES. The increasing frequency of applications for discharge from the Army makes the adoption of measures that will protect the Government from loss a wise provision. I beg, therefore, to recommend that the attention of Congress be called to the need of legislative action making all discharges by favor conditional on the reimbursement to the Government of the expense of recruiting and transportation, or a fixed sum, say $100, except in cases where long and faithful service on the part of the man constitutes a controlling element of favorable consideration. RETIREMENT OF VETERAN SOLDIERS. The law of February 14, 1885, authorizes the retirement from service of old and faithful soldiers on the completion of thirty years' military service. With the view to facilitate the preparation of estimates and simplify the present cumbrous mode of payment, I beg to urge the adoption of the scheme submitted in my last report, grouping the several grades into thirteen classes and fixing a gross sum as the total monthly pay of each class, payments to be made by the Pay Department. Four deaths occurred during the past year, and four applications for retirement are now pending. THE MILITARY PRISON. The Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has been maintained during the past year, and its business operations have not materially differed from those of the previous year. Scarcely any progress has been made in bringing its capacity to the point required to afford accommodations and profitable employment for all the military prisoners who should properly be sent there. The estimates for money necessary to maintain and improve the prison were prepared with extraordinary care and exactness, and with a detail of statements seldom found in such papers, and it is greatly regretted that the appropria tions fell below the amount indicated, as they of necessity limited the operations to the existing capacity, and forbade necessary expansion. Another consequence has been the detention of prisoners at posts in the several military departments until they could, by the occurrence of vacancies at the prison, be transferred there in small detachments. In my last report I had to report the fact that transfers to the prison were temporarily suspended owing to the exhaustion of the reduced appropriation for subsistence, and I am now obliged to report the insufficiency of the appropriation for payment of the small donations to prisoners on discharge, and cannot too much regret the limitation of operations for the public interest, the more so that such operations are for the remedying an evil seriously affecting an important branch of the public service. The impression seems to prevail to some extent among those who have not had an opportunity to observe the influence of the prison that the punishment is not sufficiently rigid, and that the care and comfort of the prisoners are made too prominent to secure good results in an exemplary way. It is not my purpose to discuss the question of value to be given to the recognized methods of prison discipline as now applied under the influence of the more humane views of the present day, but the persistent efforts made by the prisoners to obtain release is evidence that the experience they are required to undergo is not regarded by them as a lenient condition. During the past year six hundred and thirty applicatious for clemency have been received, three-fourths of which were made by the prisoners through the regular military channels, and the remainder through or by friends who have sought what they believed the best and strongest influence to secure favor. The prisoners have all been usefully employed, and the results of their labor will be found stated in detail in the accompanying report of the commandant of the prison. The money value of the work performed by prisoners in the manufactures is $39,835.30, which is within $500 of one-half of all the expenses of the prison for the year. The value of skilled labor is rated at 50 cents per day, and that of ordinary labor at 35 cents. The number of days reported by the commandant is 90,460 of the former and 82,107 of the latter, the value of which, $73,967.45, is within not quite $6,000 of the entire expenses of the prison. There seems to be no reason to doubt that as soon as the expense of extension and building shall cease the prison will be practically self-supporting. If the estimates which have been made for the next fiscal year be approved and full appropriation made, that much-desired state of self-support will, in all probability, be reached by the beginning of the succeeding year. The inspections of the prison required by law have been regularly made. It gives me pleasure to state the commandant maintains the high character for active efficiency earned by him during his past administration of the affairs of the prison. GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. The following is a list of persons committed to the Government Hospital for the Insane under the orders of the honorable the Secretary of War during the year ending September 30, 1886: WORKING OF THE OFFICE. The clerical and other force of this office remains the same as at the date of my last report. The following table exhibits the work of the Enlisted Volunteer Pension Branch and other divisions of the office engaged in the preparation of reports on claims for pension, bounty, homestead grants, &c.: Statement of calls from the Commissioner of Pensions, Second Auditor, &c., for full or partial histories of officers and men of the late volunteer forces, in connection with claims for pension, bounty, back pay, subsistence, land claims, lost horses, &c. Of the number reported on hand, 6,826 are completed so far as the records of this office are concerned, but have not yet been returned from the Surgeon-General's Office, to which they were referred for supplemental report. The above exhibit shows gratifying results. While the calls received from all sources during the year are 25,238 in excess of the number received during the preceding year, the increase of 13,590 reports over On hand Octo ber 1, 1886. |