Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Ordnance Department,

A bureau of the War Department, under the direction of a chief of ordnance. The duties of the department consist in providing, preserving, distributing, and accounting for every description of artillery, small-arms, and all the munitions of war which may be required for the fortifications of the country, the armies in the field, and for the whole body of the militia of the Union. In these duties are comprised that of determining the general principles of construction, and of prescribing in detail the models and forms of all military weapons employed in war. They comprise also the duty of prescribing the regulations for the proof and inspection of all these weapons, for maintaining uniformity and economy in their fabrication, for insuring their good quality, and for their preservation and distribution.