CHAPTER XLII.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

The Secretary-of-War—His Duties—The Department of the Navy—Efficiency of the Army—The Custody of the Flags—Patriotic Trophies—The War of the Rebellion—Captured Flags—An Ugly Flag and a Strange Motto—“Crown for the Brave”—_Sic Semper Tyrannis_—The Stars and Stripes—The Black Flag—No Quarter—The Military Establishment—The Adjutant-General’s Office—The Quartermaster-General’s Office—The Commissary-General’s Office—The Paymaster-General—The Surveyor-General—The Engineer’s Office—The Washington Aqueduct—Topographical Engineers—The Ordnance Bureau—The War Department Building—During the War—Lincoln’s Solitary Walk—Secretary Stanton—The Exigencies of War—The Medical History of the War—Dr. Hammond—Dr. J. H. Baxter—Collecting Physiological Data—The Inspection of Over Half a Million Persons—Who is Unfit for Military Service—Various Nationalities Compared—Curious Calculations Respecting Height, Health, and Color—Healthy Emigrants—Remarkable Statistical Results—The Physical _Status_ of the Nation.

The first recorded legislation of importance upon the military affairs of the nation, is the Act of Congress, of the twenty-seventh day of January, 1785, entitled “An Ordinance for ascertaining the Powers and Duties of the Secretary of War.”

By this Act the duties of the Secretary are defined; and amongst them is a provision requiring him to visit, “at least once a year,” “all the magazines and deposits of public stores, and report the state of them, with proper arrangements, to Congress.”

Immediately after the confederation of the States, by the adoption of the Constitution, this legislation was superseded by an Act of Congress, approved on the seventh day of August, 1789, defining the duties of the department, which was again modified by the fifth Congress, in the Act of the thirtieth day of April, 1798, “To establish an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of the Navy.” Of the efficiency of this department, and its services to the Republic, there can be no better testimony than that which has been extorted from history, in the following words: “The United States, from the peace of Independence, in 1783, achieved by war, and merely acknowledged by treaty, have always (?) lost by treaty, but never by war.”

This sentiment, which is not as true now of our relations with Great Britain as in 1814, contains within it a compliment to the Department which, with limited means, and encountering the natural jealousy of civism, has so administered its scanty finances that the army has been made not only a defence for the frontiers, but a recognized national force, equal to the direst emergency, a nucleus around which, in any peril, the strength and bravery of the Republic may safely rally.

By the Act of the fourteenth of April, 1814, the Secretaries of War and of the Navy were placed in custody of the flags, trophies of war, etc., to deliver the same for presentation and display in such public places as the President may deem proper. Although many trophies, which a monarchical power would have jealously preserved, have been lost, or at least detached from their proper resting-place, there are still enough in both departments to stir the patriotic emotions of all who take the trouble to inquire for them.

The war of the Rebellion greatly increased these trophies. The Rebel flags taken in battle, and in surrender, and the Union flags, re-captured from the Confederates, now occupy large apartments in two buildings belonging to the War Department; and are all placed under the supervision of the Adjutant-General. In “Winder’s Buildings” hundreds of these flags are deposited, and many hundreds more in the Adjutant-General’s office on Seventeenth street. The front and back rooms on the lower floor of the latter house are exclusively devoted to their preservation. A polite “orderly” is in waiting, with a record-book, which gives the name and history of every flag in the building. The front room is devoted to the Union colors which were re-taken from the rebels. The back room is filled with Confederate flags of every device and hue. Here is the first Confederate flag adopted—an ugly rag, thirteen stars on a blue field, with white and red bars. Its motto: “We will collect our own revenues. We choose our own institutions.”

The colors of the Benjamin Infantry, organized April 24, 1861, bear the inscriptions: “Crown for the brave.” “Strike for your altars and your fires.”

An Alabama flag, of white bunting, with broad cross-bars of blue, sewed on by women’s hands, is inscribed: “Our Homes, our Rights, we entrust to your keeping, brave Sons of Alabama.”

“_Sic Semper Tyrannis_,” says a tattered banner of fine silk, presented in the first flush of rebellion-fever, with the confidence of assured victory, “by the ladies of Norfolk, to the N. L. A. Blues.” Again, says Virginia: “Our Rights we will maintain.” “Death to Invaders covered with blood.” “Death or Victory,” cries the Zachary Rangers—and again: “Tyranny is hateful to the gods.”

With the exception of the State colors, the Union flags bear fewer mottoes. Many are fashioned of the finest fabrics, touched with the most exquisite tints. They need no florid and sensational sentence. Enough, that they bear the potent and silent stars of indissoluble union:

“When Freedom, from her mountain height, Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there; She mingled with the gorgeous dyes The milky baldrick of the skies, And striped its pure celestial white With streakings of the morning light; Then, from his mansion in the sun, She called her eagle-bearer down, And gave into his mighty hand, The symbols of her chosen land.”

Beside this Flag of the Republic, the Black Flag, borne at Winchester, with its hideous yellow stripe, and hellish sentence, “No Quarter,” needs no comment. From floor to nave, they droop everywhere, faded, tattered, bullet-riddled, the flags of Freedom, and the ensigns of Slavery, defiant, yet doomed. On one side of the apartment, cases, divided into minute boxes, rise to the ceiling. Each one is large enough to take a flag tightly rolled. Over all hangs a curtain; and here these rags, which have outlasted the wasting march, the sore defeat, wait to tell their story in silence to coming generations.

The War Department is now divided into the following Bureaus:

Secretary’s Office: The Secretary of War is charged, under the direction of the President, with the general control of the military establishment, and the execution of the laws relating thereto. The functions of the several Bureaus are performed under his supervision and authority. In the duties of his immediate office he is assisted by a chief clerk, claims-and-disbursing clerk, requisition-clerk, registering-clerk, and three recording-clerks.

The Adjutant-General’s Office is the medium of communication to the army of all general and special orders of the Secretary-of-War relating to matters of military detail. The rolls of the army, and the records of service are kept, and all military commissions prepared in this office.

The Quartermaster-General’s Office has charge of all matters pertaining to barracks and quarters for the troops, transportation, camp and garrison-equipage, clothing, fuel, forage, and the incidental expenses of the military establishment.

The Commissary-General’s Office has charge of all matters relating to the procurement and issue of subsistence-stores in the army.

The Paymaster-General’s Office has the general direction of matters relating to the pay of the army.

The Surgeon-General’s Office has charge of all matters relating to the medical and hospital service.

The Engineer’s Office, at the head of which is the Chief Engineer of the army, has charge of all matters relating to the construction of the fortifications, and to the Military Academy. At present, the Washington Aqueduct is being built under its direction. The Bureau of Topographical Engineers, at the head of which is the Chief of the Corps, has charge of all matters relating to river and harbor improvements, the survey of the lakes, the construction of military works, and generally of all military surveys.

The Ordnance Bureau, at the head of which is the chief of ordnance, has charge of all matters relating to the manufacture, purchase, storage, and issue of all ordnance, arms, and munitions of war. The management of the arsenals and armories is conducted under its orders.

The present building, still used for the War Department, is utterly inadequate to its necessities. Already its Bureaus are scattered in several transient resting-places. In a few years they will be again concentrated in the magnificent structure now going up, for the combined use of the State, War and Navy Departments.

With the present War Department building will be obliterated one of the oldest land-marks of the Capital. All through the war of the Rebellion, it seemed to be the temple of the people, to which the whole nation came up, as they did to the temple at Jerusalem. What fates hung upon the fiats which issued from its walls! Hither came mother, wife, and daughter, to seek their dead, and to supplicate the furlough for their living soldier. What times those were, when the very life of the nation seemed suspended upon the will of the great War Secretary. I cannot look at the trees which arch the avenue between the War Department and the President’s house, without thinking of those days when Lincoln took his solitary walk to and fro to consult with Stanton, his step slow, his eyes sad, over-weighted with responsibility and sorrow. And going down Seventeenth street, who that ever saw him can fail to recall the image of Stanton as he paced up and down before the door of the War Department for his half-hour’s exercise, when he held himself a prisoner within its walls.

All will soon be gone—the old familiar places as well as the old familiar faces. The grating of the trowel, cementing stone on stone, the ceaseless click of the hammer foretell how speedily the august stone structure, with graceful monoliths and turreted roof stretching over the vast square, will take the place of the old War Department.

The exigencies of war not only augmented the business of the War Department to gigantic proportions, but they created important Bureaus which have survived to flourish in times of peace; of these, none are so interesting, both to scientists and to citizens, as those connected with the medical history of the war. It may not be universally known to the public, but the medical profession has long been aware that the immense collection of cases and treatment, recorded in the field and hospital experiences of the late war, was being examined, condensed, tabulated, and the valuable conclusion, deducible therefrom, prepared for publication, under the direction of the Surgeon General of the army.

During the past few years “circulars” or detached portions of the work, of special interest, have been issued, and this spring two quarto volumes, being the first parts of the first two volumes of the entire work, have been given to the world.