Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

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[28] efficiency of field and general hospitals, under such regulations as might thereafter be established. That there should be eight medical inspectors, with the rank, pay, and emoluments each of a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, and who should be charged with the duty of inspecting the sanitary condition of transports, quarters, and camps, of field and general hospitals, and who should report to the medical inspector-general, under such regulations as might be there-after established, all circumstances relating to the sanitary condition and wants of troops and of hospitals, and to the skill, efficiency, and good conduct of the officers and attendants connected with the medical department. That the Surgeon-General, the assistant surgeon-general, medical inspector-general, and medical inspectors, should be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, by selection from the surgeons of the army, without regard to their rank when so selected. That medical purveyors should be charged, under the direction of the Surgeon-General, with the selection and purchase of all medical supplies, including new standard preparations, and of all books, instruments, hospital stores, furniture, and other articles required for the sick and wounded of the army. In all cases of emergency they might provide such additional accommodations for the sick and wounded of the army, and might transport such medical supplies as circumstances might render necessary, under such regulations as might be thereafter established, and should make prompt and immediate issues upon all special requisitions made upon them under such circumstances by medical officers; and the special requisitions should consist simply of a list of the articles required, the quantities required, dated, and signed by the medical officer requiring them. That whenever the inspector-general, or any one of the medical inspectors, should report an officer of the medical corps as disqualified, by age or otherwise, for promotion to a higher grade, or unfitted for the performance of his professional duties, he should be reported by the Surgeon-General for examination to a medical board, as provided by the seventeenth section of the act approved August third, 1861.

Mr. Wilson moved to amend the fourth section by striking out the word “surgeons” and inserting the words “medical corps,” so that it would provide that the Surgeon-General, the assistant surgeon-general, medical inspector-general, and medical inspectors should be appointed from the medical corps of the army, instead of the surgeons. After debate, in which Mr. Foster, Mr. Rice, Mr. Grimes, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Sherman participated, the amendment to the amendment was agreed to. Mr. Grimes then moved to amend the same section by adding after the words inserted on motion of Mr. Wilson, the words “or of the volunteer medical corps in the service of the United States,” so that the officers might be selected from the medical corps of the army or of the volunteers. After debate, the amendment of Mr. Grimes to the amendment of the Military Committee was agreed to. Mr. Hale moved to amend by striking out the words “by selection from the medical corps of the army, or from the volunteer medical corps in the service of the United States, without regard to their rank when so selected;” so that the President could select in or out of the military service; but the amendment was rejected. Mr. Latham, of California, moved that volunteer surgeons should be examined for their appointments; but the amendment was not agreed to.

On motion of Mr. Sherman, the amendment of the Military Committee was amended by striking out the words, “that the Surgeon-General shall have the rank, pay, and emoluments of a brigadier-general.” The amendment of the Military Committee that the assistant surgeon-general, and the medical inspector-general of hospitals should have the rank, pay, and emoluments of colonels of cavalry, and on motion of Mr. Sherman, the words “colonels of cavalry” were stricken out, and “surgeons of ten years service” inserted. On motion of Mr. Sherman, the amendment was further amended, so that the medical inspectors should have the rank, pay, and emoluments of “assistant surgeons of ten years service,” instead of “lieutenant-colonels of cavalry.” On motion of Mr. Grimes, it was amended so that the provisions of the bill should continue only during the rebellion, and the amendment of the Military Committee, as amended, was agreed to, and the bill as amended, passed without a division.

The House, on the eleventh, referred the bill to the Military Committee, and on the twelfth it was reported back by Mr. Blair, with an amendment, in the nature of a substitute; the substitute being the original bill reported by the Senate Military Committee. On the eighteenth, the House proceeded to consider the bill, the pending question being on the substitute reported by the Military Committee. Mr. Blair, of Missouri, Mr. McPherson, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sherman, of New-York, Mr. Blake, of Ohio, and Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, discussed its provisions. Mr. Sherman, of New-York, moved to amend the substitute by adding, at the end of the first section, “that their pay, and that of all hospital stewards in the volunteer as well as in the regular service, shall be forty-five dollars per month and one ration, to be computed from the passage of this act.” On the ninth of April, the House resumed the consideration of the bill. After debate, Mr. Sherman's amendment was agreed to. Mr. McPherson, of Pennsylvania, then moved to amend the proposed substitute by striking out the words “the Surgeon-General to be appointed under this act shall have the rank, pay, and emoluments of a brigadier-general ;” but after debate it was rejected. Mr. Wallace, of Pennsylvania, moved to amend by striking out the word “regular,” so that the appointments could be made from the volunteer or regular forces. The amendment was agreed to, the substitute reported by the Military Committee, as amended, was adopted, and the bill passed.