Quarter-master

“ The number of quarter-gunners in any ship is always in proportion to the number of her artillery, one quarter-gunner being allowed to every four cannon.
Quarter-master, an inferior officer, appointed by the master of a ship of war to assist the mates in their several duties; as stowing the ballast and provisions in the hold, coiling the cables on their platforms, overlooking the steerage of the ship, and keeping the time by the watch-glasses.
Quarter-netting, a sort of net-work, extended along the rails on the upper-part of a ship’s quarter. ”

“ It is a kind of honourable agreement into which they enter among themselves, every one taking an equal share in the transaction. But round-robins are not often to be seen. I should have told you, that a quarter-master is an 244officer whose duty it is to see after the quarters of the soldiers, together with their food, clothing, fuel, and ammunition. A quarter-master-general is a considerable officer; and is required to know well the country where he is, having to mark the marches and encampments of the army. ”

“ When the quarter-master, who carried up a blunderbuss, a fine gun, and a pair of pistols, for a present to the king, told him they wanted provisions, he asked where they were bound? To which he answered, to seek their fortunes, for at present they were very poor. Look ye, replied the king, I require nothing of you; all white men I look upon as my children; they helped me to conquer this country, and all the cattle in it are at their service. I 164will send down provisions enough, and when that is spent, you shall have more. ”

“ The quarter-master similarly provides, by indents on the quarter-master general, or in certain cases by private contract with civilians on behalf of government, means of transportation and tents, with all the variety of implements and materials required in the erection or repair of buildings used for military purposes. When their services can be made available all the employés in these departments are soldiers; and a considerable proportion of the enlisted men are thus continuously engaged as clerks, mechanics, and teamsters ”

“ They are placed under the direction of an experienced quarter-master, and hold a rank immediately below that of midshipman, into which body they are promoted from time to time, according to their merit. ”

“ During the march to Middle-Borough, horses were taken along the route to supply deficiencies in the teams, and forage for their use, but in all cases the women who claimed to represent absent male owners—absent doubtless in arms—and who made no secret of their own Rebel inclinations, received Quarter-Master's receipts for their full value—generally, in fact, their [Pg 162] own valuation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ T——‘s animal belonged at Picolata. The quarter-master at the barracks had sent him up to be taken over, and as we mounted at the Florida House, I could not help smiling as I 47recognized the same fellow that the quarter-master had politely sent me for a similar purpose some time previous. He was long-bodied and very long-limbed, and having been brought up in camp, his motion had all the stiffness of the marching step. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And that there may be no fraud or connivance, and too great trust be not reposed in the said secretary, every subscriber who brings his quarterage is to put it into a great chest, locked up with eleven locks, every member of the committee to keep a key, so that it cannot be opened but in the presence of them all; and every time a subscriber pays his quarterage, the secretary shall give him a sealed ticket thus [Christmas 96] which shall be allowed as the receipt of quarterage for that quarter. ”

“ And as the quartermaster buried his red nose in his toddy-jug, the concluding anathema became an indistinct mumble.
"Bankruptcy and disgrace are before the Master, I fear," he resumed with a sigh, as he snuffed the long candles, which were placed in square-footed holders of carved mahogany, mounted with silver rings on the stems; "war may save him for a time, but only if he leaves the Guards." ”

“ 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. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That the quartermaster general be authorized to appoint one principal forage-master, and as many assistant forage-masters as the nature of the service may require, not exceeding one to each brigade, whose duty shall be, under the direction of the quartermaster general, or any of his deputies, to provide and deliver out forage necessary and proper for the military service of the United States ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ever since my arrival, there has been the greatest hurry in embarking troops. There is great want of system. Most of the men here in government employ are not business men. Some of the quartermasters are inefficient. There are some good men. The best business man in the quartermaster’s employ is Lawton, of Newport, brother-in-law of the Turners (Colonel Robert R. Lawton) . He is harbor master, and in receipt of one hundred and fifty dollars per month. Everybody speaks of him in the highest terms. He is energetic, intelligent, and perfectly temperate. ”

“ You are my secretary—for a year. It is so agreed?'
'Yes, sir: as far as I am concerned.'
'Then allow me to give you your first quarter in advance. It is always—I always manage it in that way. You may be in want of a little ready money. And ... ”

“ Major Allen, of the Quartermaster's Department, who had come out as chief-quartermaster of the division, was building a large warehouse at Benicia, with a row of quarters, out of lumber at one hundred dollars per thousand feet, and the work was done by men at sixteen dollars a day. I have seen a detailed soldier, who got only his monthly pay of eight dollars a month, and twenty cents a day for extra duty, nailing on weather-boards and shingles, alongside a citizen who was paid sixteen dollars a day. ”

“ These were the company quartermaster-sergeants, whose job is to look after the feeding of their companies at all times and their housing when out of the line. "Quarters" is by training an autocrat and by hereditary reputation a scoundrel, but when he is seen waiting to show his men into its happy but temporary homes at the end of a long march, he is the most popular man in the company. ”

“ The quartermaster came down and asked Lieutenant Casey for a memorandum of his outfit, which was “70 horses, 49 Indian scouts, 1 interpreter, 2 white officers, 1000 pounds of bacon, so many crackers, 2000 pounds forage, 5 Sibley tents, and 1 citizen,” all of which the quartermaster put down in a little book. You are not allowed by United States quartermasters to have an exaggerated estimate of your own importance. Bacon and forage and citizens all go down in the same column, with the only distinction that the bacon and forage outnumber you. ”

“ The quartermaster is going to take you in hand this afternoon, and I don't envy him his job. You'll hand in your tin hats and your jerkins, and [Pg 15] you'll draw service caps, badges and shoulder-titles. Those of you who need new things must take the opportunity of getting them. Private Higgins, for instance, needs a new tunic. ”

“ 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.... ”

“ I was employed in the quartermaster’s stores and T.E. joined me there. He did his work well; he had to mark recruits’ kits with their numbers, fit them with clothing, boots, etc. In the afternoons sometimes, we used to solve cross-word puzzles together. ”

“ I am very glad to be able to tell you that your quarter is paid, and I take it to be no small proof of my zeal to serve you, considering how hard it is with us; but you are such an Englishman, that one makes one's-self popular by soliciting for you, so that the merit is quite taken from me on that account. ”

“ The quartermaster-sergeant of a certain I.Y. company I know of, is, like most others, a man absolutely unaccustomed to and unqualified for the job. Added to this, the disposition of the man is of such a nervous nature that he is afraid to try and work on his own (p. 020) initiative, and consequently when requisitioning for his company's rations, he not only fails to do what his regular brother non.-com. would do, viz.: get as much as he can for his company, but fails often to requisition or obtain their bare allowance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There must be propriety in keeping the offices distinct.
Mr. Macon observed, it was impossible to go to war without a Quartermaster General; for there is no man has so much to do about an army as this officer. There was always more difficulty in settling the Quartermaster General's accounts than any other. The only instance in which a Quartermaster General has to purchase supplies, is when, by some miscarriage or accident, the supplies from the Commissary or Purveyor do not arrive in season. ”

“ That was a year ago, and his papers complaining about these tin roofs have been travelling back and forth between contractor and express agent and the department at Washington and the quartermaster ever since, and they now make up a bundle of seventy different papers. Sometimes the quartermaster defeats the Treasury Department; sometimes it requires him to pay money out of his own pocket. Three revolvers were stolen out of their rack once, and the post quartermaster was held responsible for their loss. ”

“ In each watch there are three quartermasters, generally fine specimens of the British tar, a joy to the eye and a comfort to the soul, notably in bad weather, when they cheer you with a smile that soothes as the words they may not utter; for by a maritime fiction they are always supposed to be at the wheel, and you must not, under fear of keelhauling, talk to them. ”

“ A quarter is only worth two bits, a short and a long. Whenever you have a quarter, go to the post office and buy five cents’ worth of postage-stamps; you will receive in change two dimes, that is, two short bits. The purchasing power of your money is undiminished. ”

“ Each group of these booths, of all sizes and shapes, formed a separate quarter particularly dedicated to some special branch of commerce. There was the iron quarter, the furriers' quarter, the woolen quarter, the quarter of the wood merchants, the weavers' quarter, the dried fish quarter, etc. Some booths were even built of fancy materials, some of bricks of tea, others of masses of salt meat--that is to say, of samples of the goods which the owners thus announced were there to the purchasers--a singular, and somewhat American, mode of advertisement. ”

“ Let us first consider the quartermaster's department, which, from the character and diversity of its duties, the amount of its expenditures, and its influence upon military operations, may be ranked as among the most important. This department provides clothing, camp and garrison equipage, animals and transportation of all kinds, fuel, forage, straw, and stationery, an immense variety of the miscellaneous materials required by an army, and for a vast amount of miscellaneous expenditures. It is, in fact, the great business operator of a military organization. ”

“ 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 ”

“ It's a fine country," said the quartermaster.
"But he will want to see his relations," said the little girl. "Maybe he's got a wife and children. He will be dreadfully lonesome away down here."
"Maybe you had better take him back with you on the Kammerboy," said Russ thoughtfully, to the quartermaster.
But the officer could not do that. There had been some objection made already to the big sea-eagle caged on deck. Besides, the bird's wing was better, and if he was kept much longer confined, the quartermaster said, he might forget how to fly! ”