Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 3.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[422] possible at the same time to utilize their services, instead of discharging them with a pension, which was an onerous burden for the appropriations to carry. Six months later, on the 1st of November, this corps numbered 491 officers and 17,764 soldiers: more than three-fourths of them were already organized into regiments of two battalions. The first battalion, with six companies, comprised the ablest-bodied men, armed with muskets, who had to do garrison-duty in the towns, the arsenals, the various posts in the interior, and perform the functions of the provostmarshal's police; the second battalion, with four companies, composed of the most infirm, was employed in the hospitals and the various offices. The formation of this corps was the means of restoring to active service in the field an almost equal number of soldiers capable of bearing the fatigues of war, and of furnishing men capable of performing, at the same time and in a regular manner, the services of the interior, which was its special charge.

A brief analysis of the reports presented to Congress in 1862 and 1863 by the quartermaster-general will suffice to explain the enormous amount of the military estimates, and the reader will excuse these few technical details, as they will enable him to thoroughly understand the magnitude of the means employed in carrying on the war. It will be remembered that the quartermaster's department had charge of furnishing all the materiel of the army: as we have described it in the first volume, it formed, at the outset of the struggle, a modest bureau, which it was found necessary to transform suddenly into a vast department. In each of the years 1861, 1862, and 1863 the Secretary of War is asking for the necessary funds to increase the personnel of this department by more than one hundred clerks, both men and women, and a special law is enacted to this effect on the 7th of February, 1863. Their number, however, is still insufficient, the number of accounts rendered exceeding the calculation. A statement of the materiel on hand in each body has to be furnished monthly by each brigade and regiment, and in every quarter by each company. Now, in November, 1862, there were 300 brigades, 1000 regiments, and 10,000 companies, which makes 55,600 accounts to verify for this year; in 1863 each company commander has to furnish monthly statements of the materiel