The United States army.
--The U. S.
Army Register for August, 1863, gives us some interesting information relative to the organization of that body and the changes which have taken place in the last month.
It consists of 23 army corps, but as two of them, the 4th and 7th, have been so decimated by battle as to render their consolidation with others necessary, there are only 21 corps organized.
These corps are commanded by the following officers: 1st corps, Maj
Gen Newton; 2d, Maj
Gen Hancock; 3d, Maj
Gen Sickles; 5th, Maj
Gen Sykes, 6th, Maj
Gen Sedgwick; 8th, Maj
Gen Schenck; 9th, Maj
Gen Parke; 10th, Brig
Gen Gillmore; 11th, Maj
Gen Howard; 12th, Maj
Gen Slocum; 13th, Maj
Gen Ord; 14th, Maj
Gen Thomas; 15th, Maj
Gen Sherman; 16th,
Major Gen Hurlbut; 17th, Maj
Gen McPherson; 18th, Maj
Gen Foster; 19th, Maj
Gen Banks; 20th, Maj
Gen McCook; 21st, Maj
Gen Crittenden; 22d, Maj
Gen Heintzleman; 23d, Maj
Gen Hartsuff.--Besides these corps there is a cavalry corps under Maj
Gen Stoneman, who is now on duty in
Washington, as chief of the cavalry bureau.
There are in the volunteer army 71
Major Generals and 194
Brigadier Generals.
The rank of these volunteer
Generals in the regular army is also given.
We find that
Major General Pleasanton, the raider, ranks only as a Major in the 2d U. S. regular cavalry.
Maj
Gen Stoneman as
Major in the 4th cavalry.
Maj
Gen Thomas as
Colonel of the 5th cavalry.
Maj
Gen Sherman as a Colonel in the 3d artillery.
Maj
Gen Casey, who ran so at
Seven Pines, is
Colonel of the 4th infantry.--Maj
Gen Keyes, lately on the
Peninsula, is
Colonel of the 11th infantry.
Maj
Gen W T
Sherman, who lost a leg at
Port Hudson, is
Colonel of the 13th infantry.
Major Gen Heintzleman is
Colonel of the 17th infantry; and Maj
Gen Doubleday, who was at the first bombardment of
Fort Sumter, ranks only as a Major in the 17th infantry.
Meade,
Pope,
Hooker,
Rosecrans, and
McDowell, are Brigadiers in the regular army, and
Fremont,
McClellan,
Grant, and
Halleck, are
Major Generals.
Of the twelve
General officers who were in the regular army in August, 1862, two--Gen'ls
Sumner and
Mansfield — are dead, and their places were filled by the appointment of Gen'ls
Hooker and
Meade, the former from the volunteer force and the latter from the engineers; and two--
Gens. Wool and
Harney--have been retired from active service.
Their places are not yet filled.
Maj
Gen U S
Grant, of the volunteer army, was rewarded for his success at
Vicksburg by being appointed
Major Gen in the regular army, to fill the original vacancy in that grade remaining out of the four created during the present war. One
Major Generalship (vice
Wool retired) and two
Brigadier Generalships (one vice
Harney retired, and one original vacancy) remain unfilled.
Should Brig
Gen Philip St. Geo Cooke be retired (he has been summoned before the
Retiring Board,) a third vacancy will occur.
Gen Heintzleman's chances for a regular
Brigadier Generalship are considered good.
The following regular army officers were dismissed from the service last year:
Maj
Gen Fitz John Porter,
Colonel 15th; Maj
Haller, 7th; Maj
Davidson, 4th; and
Capts Beall, 2d;
Stivers, 7th;
Mayer and
Wilkinson, 12th;
Woodson, 16th;
Cady, 17th;
Breslin and
Kellogg, 18th;
Goodwin, 10th.
The act of July 17th, 1862, gave
Lincoln discretionary power to retire all officers whose names have been borne on the army register 45 years, or who are 65 years of age, without submitting their cases to a Retiring Board.
The recent retirement, under this act, of
Gens Wool,
Harney, and
Brown; and
Colonels Long,
Thayer,
Craig,
Symington,
Gates,
Merchant,
Dimick,
Loomis, and
Burke, together with the summoning of many field officers before the
Retiring Board, is considered very strong evidence that the authorities intend to take full advantage of the act referred to by laying all old officers "on the shelf,"
