Quartermaster General

“ To familiarize the Officers reckoned of the General Staff with the rules of the Art of War while they remain with their commands, and to practice them in the duties which belong to Officers of the General Staff, the Quartermaster-General is directed to charge them with such duties as may develop their talent, without, however, removing them for that purpose from the service of the front. ”

“ He subsequently served as quartermaster-general at the Cape of Good Hope, whence, in 1808, he joined the army in the Peninsula, and was assistant quartermaster-general to General Picton's division during the greater part of the war. ”

“ Nothing can be more interesting than to look through the long series of orders and directions drawn up by the quartermaster-general’s department between 1809 and 1813, in which the gradual evolution of order out of chaos by dint of practical experience can be traced. ”

“ On arriving in Washington I was ordered to report to Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, Quartermaster General of the army. He received me courteously, but observed in a pleasant manner: "Capt. French, neither you nor Capt. Rufus Ingalls were recommended by me for appointment in my department; you were commissioned over officers that I recommended. Besides, the regulations of the army forbids any officer from becoming a captain and assistant quartermaster until he has been five years in service, and neither of you have been in the army five years." ”

“ The military departmental mind is filled with doubts and vague misgivings. The Quartermaster-General’s staff shake their heads with a mysterious despondency, already oppressed with the weight of prospective cares, the nature of which can only be appreciated by those who have shared in the duties and responsibilities of their office. ”

“ I know nothing about Major Pearce as a quartermaster nor of any right Major-General Hindman has to make him one. He is an assistant commissary of subsistence, with the rank of major, and Major Quesenbury, my brigade or department quartermaster, is major by an older commission.... ”

“ With truth then I can declare that no man, in my opinion, ever had his measures more impeded than I have by every department of the army. Since the month of July we have had no assistance from the Quartermaster-General, and to want of assistance from this department the Commissary-General charges great part of his deficiency. ”

“ The officers of the Quartermaster-General’s department, besides their duties with regard to the moving of the army, or the detachments of it, had often to undertake independent work at a distance from headquarters, and sometimes remote from the theatre of war. ”

“ Sometimes a Quartermaster-General used to come round on inspection and sniff the mess in the coppers and admire the stoves. With him in close attendance one probably saw the people who were really getting at us, the Verwaltung Leute (“Q” people) of the place. They were seedy, suspicious-looking folk, thin enough in spite of their obvious battening at our expense. The General himself was a fairly poor specimen of his class. He drove up to the camp from the station even in the finest weather in a closed carriage and behind one feeble nag. ”

“ Your heads of that must carry all the apparatus of all its range from minor tactics to military173 statesmanship. Note, rather, then, when you send an army you must send a Treasury, a General Post Office, a Judiciary and Record Office, and one hardly knows what beside. Your quartermaster-general has got to be the Selfridge of six million gaily grumbling customers, who are perpetually on the move. A mere battalion quartermaster must possess qualities that would win a fortune in a large suburban shop. ”

“ This department is the life of the army—the supplies of every description must be received through its hands. Efficiently directed, it can contribute to the most brilliant results, and badly handled, can thwart the most perfectly matured plans of genius, or generalship.
Colonel A. C. Myers, who was early made Acting Quartermaster-General, had the benefit of the assistance and advice of an able corps of subordinates—both from the old service and from the active business men of the South ”

“ He became quartermaster-general at head-quarters in 1742, in succession to General John Armstrong, F.R.S., and in the same capacity made the campaigns in Flanders, in which he had a horse shot under him at Dettingen, and much distinguished himself at Fontenoy. ”

“ The chief quartermaster and commissary of the army may give suitable employment to the people, white and black, or transport them to such points as they may choose where employment can be had; and may extend temporary relief in the way of provisions and vacant houses to the worthy and needy, until such time as they can help themselves. ”

“ But upon finding the quartermaster I was politely informed that he had bought and paid for the horse, and of course I could not have it. I said nothing, but went to General M.’s headquarters, stated the case, and procured an order which [Pg 254] brought the horse in double-quick time, and no thanks to the quartermaster.
A month passed away, and everything remained quiet at Harrison’s Landing and vicinity. The troops, having rested, began to grow tired of the routine of camp life, and were anxious for another brush with the enemy. ”

“ Joseph C. Byron, assistant quartermaster, U. S. A., and Capt. Winthrop ~. Wood, assistant quartermaster U. S. A., were energetically at work to secure lighters and tugs to relieve the situation in which we were placed. ”

“ Is a non-combatin' crowd,
An' it isn't much excitin'
Fer th' man who likes it loud;
But it's got its own hard work t' do,
An' they'd all be on th' floor
If it wasn't for the non-combatin'
Quartermaster Corps.
The Quartermaster Corps
Sheds no glory or renown,
But it's got the grub that keeps you
Comin' back when you are down ”

“ The raising of the immense volunteer force necessitated a great increase in the staff departments, and large numbers of persons from civil life have been appointed into the volunteer staff in the Adjutant-General's, Judge-Advocate's, Quartermaster's, Commissary, Medical, and Pay Departments. The ordnance duties are performed by officers detailed from the line, and engineer duties by regiments assigned for that purpose. A large number of additional aides-de-camp were also authorized, forming that branch of duty into a department. ”

“ On one occasion, when stationed at a post of several companies commanded by a field officer, he was himself commanding one of the companies and at the same time acting as post quartermaster and commissary. He was first lieutenant at the time, but his captain was detached on other duty. As commander of the company he made a requisition upon the quartermaster—himself—for something he wanted. As quartermaster he declined to fill the requisition, and endorsed on the back of it his reasons for so doing. ”

“ That depends upon circumstances. The quartermaster is an odd sort of a fellow, and sometimes changes his mind about routes. He may come in the way we expect, and he may take some entirely different trail. ”

“ I must acquaint the reader, that on board the West-India privateers and free-booters, the quarter-master’s opinion is like the Mufti’s among the Turks: the captain can undertake nothing which the quarter-master does not approve. ”

“ The quartermaster, being charged with encamping and quartering the regiment, should be at all times acquainted with its strength, that he may require no more ground than is necessary, nor have more tents pitched than the number prescribed ”

“ Beside them a gray-haired quartermaster is stationed, lantern in hand, to light the way down the ladder that leads to the launch. In the shoulder-straps of one of the officers glistens a single silver star, which denotes his Commodore’s rank, while the two gold bars that decorate the straps of the other show him to be a Lieutenant. As the latter is observed in the rays of the lantern, his smooth face and slender figure are suggestive rather of extreme youth than of a man qualified by years and experience to assume the office that his uniform represents. ”

“ Names of the members, and dates of their commissions, to be given in immediately to Major Lyon, deputy quarter master general, acting judge advocate. List of the evidence for and against to be given in at the same time. The quarter masters of the different regiments at head quarters to give in to the quarter master general a return of the effective strength immediately. ”

“ I suppose, that your drafts in favor of the quarter-master, if attended with sixty days' grace, may be complied with to a certain amount. We will certainly use our best endeavors to answer them. I have only to desire that they may be made payable to the quarter-master alone, and not to the bearer. This is to prevent the mortification of seeing an unapprised individual taken in by an assignment of them, as if they were ready money. Your letter to Colonel Finnie will go to Williamsburg immediately. Those to Congress, with a copy of the papers enclosed to me, went yesterday by express. ”

“ He not only goes to the Quartermaster and makes inquiry whether such or such regiment or division, or whatever they may be, have received or drawn their rations, but goes himself to their camps and makes inquiry among the soldiers themselves whether they have been properly provided for, and if not he would immediately send for his Quartermasters, reprimanding and telling them that they must get rations for his soldiers, let it come from where it may and cost what it will. ”

“ They reach the supply wagon, or it may be only a dump of goods. There they will find the quartermaster in charge, in all likelihood. To him they tell their platoon number—Number Sixteen Platoon, Section Four, perhaps—and the quartermaster will hand them the rations. One man will get half a dozen parcels, maybe more. His comrade never offers to relieve him of any—to the comrade there is designated a higher duty. The quartermaster takes up with care and hands with tenderness to the second man a jar, or possibly a jug. ”