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BOARD OF EXAMINATION.
226. Boards of examination have been adopted in several branches
of the service by Law, and will, in all probability, become general
for the purpose of inquiring into the qualifications of officers, or
of candidates for appointment or promotion.
227. The Act of March 3, 1863, section 4, provides as follows for
the examination of Ordnance Officers:
**** Provided, That
no officer of the ordnance department, below the rank of a field
officer, shall be promoted or commissioned to a higher grade, nor
shall any officer of the Army be commissioned as an Ordnance
Officer, until he shall have passed a satisfactory examination
before a board of not less than three Ordnance officers senior to
him in rank; and should such officer fail on such examination, he
shall be suspended from promotion, or appointment, for one year,
when he may be re-examined before a like board; and if upon such
second examination an Ordnance officer shall fall, he shall be
dismissed from the service, and if an officer of the Army he shall
not be commissioned.
General Orders, No. 138 and 393, of
1863, giving rules and subjects upon which candidates for promotion
and appointment in the Ordnance Department would be examined, were
issued in compliance with the foregoing law. By reference to those
orders it will be seen that no one of limited education need present
himself before the Board.
without fault on his part,
and, in case of damage, that due care and attention were exerted on
his part, and that the damage did not result from neglect." The
action of the board cannot supersede these depositions. (Reg. 1019.)
These depositions are not necessary to the proceeding, but as the
officer is required to produce them by law independent of the action
of a Board of Survey, it is as well for him to furnish them to the
board, who will attach them to the proceedings as an appendix.
When the goods were received from a carrier in a damaged
condition or deficient, the original invoices and bills of lading
may also be submitted and attached as evidence to the proceedings.
These papers are, however, evidence and vouchers that belong to the
officer, and which he would of himself submit with the copies of the
proceedings to which he is entitled as additional evidence, to the
proper auditor of the treasury department. 47
The proceedings are
made out in triplicate and signed by all the members of the board,
and, when acted on by the commanding officer, two copies are given
to the officer accountable for the property, and one is sent to the
headquarters of the Department or Army in the field. (Reg. 1020.).
228. The following are the regulations for the examination of
officers of the Quartermaster’s, Subsistence, and Pay Departments,
under the following Act, to provide for the examination of certain
officers of the Army:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That
every quartermaster and assistant quartermaster, and every
commissary and assistant commissary of subsistence, and every
paymaster and additional paymaster shall, as soon as practicable, be
ordered to appear for examination as to his qualifications before a
board, to be composed of three staff officers of the corps to which
he belongs, of recognized merit and fitness, of whom two at least
shall be officers of volunteers, which board shall make a careful
examination as to the qualifications of all officers who may appear
before them in pursuance of this act, and shall also keep minutes
and make a full and true record of the examination in each case. And
all members of such boards of examination shall, before proceeding
to the discharge of their duties, as herein provided, swear or
affirm that they will conduct all examination with impartiality, and
with a sole view to the qualifications of the person or persons to
be examined, and that they will not divulge the vote of any member
upon the examination of any officer who may appear before them.
SEC. 2. And be it
further enacted, That
such boards of examination shall be convened, under the direction of
the Secretary of War, by the Quartermaster General, the Commissary
General of Subsistence, and the Paymaster General, at convenient places; and general rules of examination and a
standard of qualifications shall be prescribed by said officers, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War,
and shall be published in General Orders.
SEC. 3. And be it
further enacted, That
after such General Orders shall have been published for sixty days,
if any officer who shall then be ordered before a board of examiners,
under the provisions of this act, shall fall for thirty days after receiving such special order to report himself as
directed, all his pay and allowances shall cease and be forfeited until he does appear and report for examination; and if
he shall still thereafter fail for a further period of thirty days so to appear, he shall thereupon be dropped from the
rolls of the Army: Provided,
however, That if
such failure to appear and report shall have been occasioned by wounds
or sickness, or other physical disability, then there shall be no forfeiture of pay until thirty days after such
disability has been removed; but if in sixty days after the disability is removed the officer shall not report himself,
he shall then be dropped from the rolls as in other cases.
SEC. 4. And be it
further enacted, That
if the board of examination shall report that if any officer does
not possass the requisite business qualifications, they shall forward the
record of the examination of such officer to the head of the bureau to which he may belong; and if the head of such bureau
shall approve the finding and report of the board, he shall forward the same through the Secretary of War to the
President of the United States; and if the President shall confirm the same, the officer so falling in his examination
shall, if commissioned, be dismissed from the service with one month’s pay; and if not yet commissioned, his
appointment shall be revoked. And if the board shall report that any officer falls to pass a satis factory examination
by reason of intemperance, gambling, or other immorality, and if the head of the bureau shall approve the
finding and report of the board, and the same being communicated, as before provided, to the President and confirmed
by him, then such officer shall be dismissed from the service without pay, and shall not be permitted to re-enter
the service as an officer: Provided,
That such dismissal shall not relieve him from liability under existing
laws for any offense he may have committed.
SEC. 5. And be it
further enacted, That
the boards of examination shall forward all their records of
examination to the heads of the bureaus to which they appertain, and such
records shall be filed in the proper bureaus with a suitable index; and any officer who may desire it, shall be entitled to
receive a copy of the record in his own case, upon paying the cost of copying the same. Approved, June 25, 1864.
In order to carry out the provisions of the foregoing act, the
following regulations have been established:
I. The Quartermaster General, Commissary General, and Paymaster
General, will submit for the approval of the Secretary of War, the names of officers of their respective
departments, who shall constitute boards of examination within certain geographical districts to be also designated by
the said chiefs of bureaus. The districts and boards, having been approved by the Secretary of War, will be announced
in Special Orders, by the Adjutant General.
II. The several boards will be strictly governed by provisions of
the act of June 25, 1864, in relation to the examinations and records.
III. The several heads of bureaus named in the act will provide
for the appearance of all the officers of their respective departments before the boards, and decide whether economy and the
interests of ihe service require that the said officers shall leave their stations to appear before the
boards, or whether the boards shall adjoum from place to place to visit the stations of the officers to be examined. All
details as to time and place of convening, modes of proceeding of the boards under the law, forms of record, &c., and the
appearances of officers before them, will be arranged and communicated to the boards by the chiefs of their
respective bureaus after the boards and districts are announced by the Adjutant General.
IV Any of the examining hoards may call upon the nearest United
States medical officer to examine and give his professional opinion as to the health, constitution, etc., of the
officers brought before them.
V. The boards will conduct their proceedings and make up their
records in a manner assimilated as nearly as practicable to those of courts-martial, each case being kept
separate and complete by itself. They may call for such witnesses and papers as may be necessary during their
examinations. They will be allowed such clerical force and at such rate of compensation as the chiefs of their respective
bureaus may deem proper Each clerk will be duly sworn to perform his duties with fidelity and fairness, and not to
divulge any part of the proceedings.
VI. The following oath will be administered to all members of the
examining boards, in compliance with the first section of the act: We do solemnly SWEAR that we will conduct the
examination in the cases of the officers before us, without partiality, favor, or affection, and with a sole view
to determine their qualifications; and we do further swear that we will not discover nor disclose the vote or opinion
of any particular member of this board, nor divulge the result of any examination in any case brought before us. So
help us God.
VII. The following are the general rules of examination and
standards of qualification prescribed by the heads of bureaus, and approved by the Secretary of War:
For Officers of the Quartermaster’s Department.
The examinations of quartermasters and assistant quartermasters,
under the act of June 25, 1864, will be so conducted by the board of examiners as to ascertain the
qualifications of the officer under examination, whether mental, moral, or physical.
No officer should be reported qualified against whom there
appears anything disabling him from the performance of all the ordinary duties of his office and station. Be should be
able to show a good moral character
If any grounds of suspicion of dishonesty, "intemperance,
gambling, or other immorality" appears, it should be stated to him, and he should be required to satisfy the board
that such suspicion is unfounded. His physical constitution should be robust and such as will fit him for the
active duties of a military life. Any infirmity, whether resulting from age or disease, or any other cause, which would
disqualify him from active service, will be cause of rejection.
The only exception to this rule will be the case of infirmity
resulting from wounds, or disease incurred in the performance of his military duty since his appointment in the
Quartermaster’s Department, and the consequence of necessary exposure in such duty.
Cases of this kind will be made the subject of special reports,
which should set forth fully the nature and degree of the disability, and the manner, time, and place in which it was
incurred.
An assistant quartermaster or quartermaster should be able to
read and write English with facility, and to perform readily the ordinary operations of arithmetic in use in
commercial transactions. If a new appointee, he should be able to show familiarity with the details of ordinary commercial
business, such as the casting of accounts, the drawing of checks, keeping of books and records.
Being supplied with the Rules and Regulations of the Army, he
should be required to show capacity for under-standing those relating to the Quartermaster’s Department, and to
satisfy the board that he possesses such general intelligence and aptitude for business as will enable him, with
the aid of the Regulations and the Manuals in use in the Army, to become a useful and efficient officer.
If the officer under examination has had some experience in the
service he should be able to satisfy the board that he has made himself acquainted with the Regulations, so as to be
able to make out a complete set of the returns, reports, accounts, and records required by the Regulations of the
Quartermaster’s Department. That he understands how quartermaster’s funds and supplies are to- be obtained,
receipted for, preserved, issued, transferred, transported, condemned, and accounted for
He should be also sufficiently acquainted with the general
regulations of the Army to be able to refer to any article thereof relating to the business of the Quartermaster’s
Department.
He should satisfy the board that he is not a partner or
interested in any commercial firm or business dealing in such supplies and stores as are usually purchased by the Quartermaster’s
Department.
For Officers in the Subsistence Department.
The examination will include the following:
1. The occupation of the officer previous to his entry into
service.
2. The length of time in service, and the manner in which his
duties were performed during that time.
3. Writing-style and general knowledge of business and official
correspondence.
4. Arithmetic-so far as to enable him to conduct satisfactorily
the details pertaining to the duties of his office.
5. Business qualifications-general aptitude and intelligence.
6. Physical qualifications sufficient to perform in the field
such duties as his position may require of him.
7. Moral character
For Officers in the Pay Department.
That the standard of qualifications for an office of the Pay
Department be: the capacity to write business letters legibly and intelligibly, to be thoroughly acquainted with
arithmetic; to be quick and accurate in computations; to have proper physical capacity, in point of age and health, to
enable him to travel in and endure the vicissitudes of climates; to be of good moral and business habits, and to have a
fair knowledge of his duties for the time he has been already in the department.
229. The only regulation for the line for appointments from civil
life to the Regular Army, is the following Regulation:
Whenever the public service may require the appointment of
any citizen to the army, a Board of Officers will be instituted, before which the applicant will appear for an
examination into his physical ability, moral character, attainments,
and general fitness for the service. If the Board report in favor
of the applicant, he will be deemed eligible for a commission in the army.
230. The Act of August 3,1854, sec. 5, provides that
non-commissioned officers who pass an examination of a Board of Officers under the direction of the War
Department may be promoted to the rank of Brevet Second Lieutenant. The following is the Regulation with regard to the board:
A Board to consist of the Professors of Mathematics and Ethics,
and the Commandant of Cadets, will convene at the Military Academy, on the first Monday of September in every year,
for the examination of such non-commissioned officers, for promotion, as have already passed the regimental
examination, prescribed in General Orders No. 17, of October 4,1854.
231. The following is the Order No. 17 referred to: It will be
observed that the above Regulation modifies the first paragraph of the order, with reference to the
Board of Examination:
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 17.
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE,
Washington, October 4, 1864. J
The following regulations have been established to carry out the
provisions of the fifth section of the Act of August 4, 1854, relative to the promotion of non-commissioned officers:
1. An Army Board, composed of four officers of rank, will be
convened annually, on the first Monday in September, in the city of Washington, for the examination of such
noncommissioned officers as may be ordered to appear before them by the War Department.
2. To aid the Department in the selection of proper candidates
for promotion, Company Commanders will report to their Colonels all such non-commissioned officers as, in their
opinion, by education, conduct, and service, seem to merit advancement. In these reports must be set forth a
description of the candidate, his length of service as
non-commissioned officer and as private soldier, his character as to fidelity and
sobriety, his physical qualifications and men-ad abilities, extent to which his talents have been
cultivated, and his fitness generally to discharge the duties of a commissioned officer If recommended on account of meritorious
services, the particular services referred to must be stated in detail. On receiving the reports of Company
Commanders, the Colonel will assemble a Board, to consist of four officers of his Regiment, of as high rank as the
convenience of the service will admit, to make a preliminary examination into the claims and qualifications of those
non-commissioned officers who may appear to him deserving promotion. Where the Colonel has not authority to convene such
Board, the Regimental officers necessary to form it will, on application to the proper department commander,
be placed subject to his orders. The Board, constituted as above, will submit a full statement in the case of
each candidate examined; and on these statements the Colonel will endorse his remarks and forward them, through
the headquarters of the Army, to the Adjutant-General, to be laid before the Secretary of War.
3. The foregoing reports must be transmitted in time to reach
Washington by the 1st of May in each year, and such non-commissioned
officers as the Secretary of War may consider suitable candidates
for promotion will receive orders from the Adjutant General’s
Office to present themselves for examination by the Board to be
convened on the first Monday in September following. As a general
rule, one-fourth of the vacancies occurring annually in the Army
will be filled from the non-commissioned grades. The persons thus
appointed shall, as far as practicable, be attached to the Regiments
in which their meritorious services had been rendered, and will
thereafter succeed to vacancies in their particular arm of service
according to seniority.
4. No candidate will be examined who is married; who is under
twenty, or over twenty-eight years of age; who, in the judgment of
the Board, has not the physical ability to endure the exposures of
service; who has any deformity of body, or whose moral habits are
bad.
5. The Board, being satisfied of these preliminary points, will
proceed to examine each candidate separately- First.
In his knowledge of English Grammar, and ability to read and
write with facility and correctness. Second.
In his knowledge of
Arithmetic, and his ability in the application of its rules to all
practical questions, and in his knowledge of plane and solid
geometry. Third. In
his knowledge of Geography, particularly in reference to the
northern continent of America, and in his ability to solve the usual
problems on the terrestrial globe. Also in his knowledge of what is
usually denominated as popular Astronomy. Fourth.
In his knowledge of
History, particularly in reference to his own country. Fifth.
In his knowledge of
the Constitution of the United States, and of the organization of
the Government under it, and of the general principles which
regulate international intercourse..6.
After having
completed the examination of all candidates who have presented
themselves, the Board will then submit their names to the War
Department in order of relative merit. In determining this order,
the Board will consider eight as the maximum of the first, fourth,
and fifth heads, and ten as the maximum of the second and third
heads; and no candidate will be passed by the bard who shall not
have received at least half of the number of maximum marks on each
head or subject of examination. And any candidate having passed, who
is also a graduate from any college, shall be allowed five
additional marks in his favor, which shall be taken into the account
of his general merit.
By order of the Secretary of War:
S. COOPER, Adjutant-Generet.
232. In the Volunteer Service the following law from the Act of
July 22d, 1861, provides for the examination of officers:
SEC. 10. And be
it further enacted, That
the general commanding a separate department or a detached army is
hereby authorized to appoint a military board or commission of not
less than three nor more than five officers, whose duty it shall be
to examine the capacity, qualifications, propriety of conduct, and
efficiency of any commissioned officer of volunteers within his
department or army, who may be reported to the board or commission,
and upon such report, if adverse to such officer, and if approved by
the President of the United States, the commission of such officer
shall be vacated: Provided
always, That no
officer shall be eligible to sit on such board of commission whose
rank or promotion would in any way be affected by its proceedings,
and two members, at least, if practicable, shall be of equal rank of
the officer being examined. *
* * * *
233. To aid the preliminary Boards the following system of record
of the examination is suggested. Where many candidates are to be
examined it becomes a matter of economy of time and ready reference
to systematize the examination, and condense the history of each
case:
234. In the foregoing record 3 is
taken as the maximum in each class of qualification, and it may be
seen at a glance what the candidates’ merits are. The maximum
would be given where there was perfection, 2.5 would be "very
good," 2 would be "good," 1.5 would be
"indifferent," and 1 would be "very
indifferent," and 0 would be "entirely deficient."
235. This system can be extended to
the merest fraction, by keeping a record on the same plan of the
answers to questions, giving from 3 to 0, according as the question
is answered perfectly, more or less imperfectly, or not at all;
then, adding up the result and dividing by the number of questions asked, would give the average of the candidate’s
merits on the subject, which would be the result to go upon the examination record.
236. The qualifications, physical, moral, and mental, would
determine his fitness to be admitted into service, whilst his merits as to education would determine
his rank and the arm of service. Under the heading of physical would be considered his
health, constitution, age, and ability to endure the fatigues and exposures of service. Moral, would
relate to character and standing in society as regards honesty, integrity, and habits. Mental, would
include the natural control of the faculties without reference to training, whether quick of
thought, accurate of expression, and facility to communicate his own ideas or comprehend the ideas of
others.
237. Education would relate entirely to his training, and the
examination should be confined to those things of which the candidate pretended or claimed a
knowledge. Some experience is necessary in conducting examinations to obtain satisfactory
results. The system does not answer all the requirements, as a candidate’s previous history is not
always to be had, and the capacity to control men and the natural practicability that often makes
amends for a defective education, is not visible on the surface, and not easily brought out except by
experience.
238. A candidate’s merits should be estimated in some degree by
the opportunities he has had; if they have been limited, and he yet shows a sufficient degree of
qualifications, it is fair to presume that he will continue to use the opportunities for his
future improvement, which is a more important merit than any other On the contrary, one who has
had opportunities and has not used them in the past, is not likely to be more acquisitive in
the future. For example, a young man who has been several years in the army, and has not learned
anything beyond his own personal routine, will, probably, not acquire anything in the
future except what he is forced to do, or perform any duty with zeal.
239. In making up the proceedings of a Board of Examination, if
no other method is specified, the same general form should be adopted that has already been
given for other Boards. A tabular statement might be incorporated or appended to the proceedings,
giving the marks or figures according to the foregoing form of record. The report should,
however, state definitely by name whom they consider fit for officers, and whom they reject.
240. This duty of examination is an important one, and should be
conscientiously performed. Good officers are absolutely necessary. There is very little
difference between the men of which different armies are composed, the great difference is in the
officers belonging to them. With good officers any troops will fight well, with bad officers no
troops are good enough to fight well.
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