305. It is not unusual for Lieutenants to be assigned to duty in some capacity properly pertaining to the General Staff either detached or on the staff of some General officer. It is not intended to do more than indicate what these are, at this time.

306. He may be called upon to act in any one of the following capacities, viz.:

- Adjutant General.

- Inspector General.

- Aide-de-Camp.

- Quartermaster.

- Commissary.

- Engineer.

- Judge Advocate.

- Ordnance Officer.

- Mustering Officer.

- Provost Marshal.

308. An Acting Adjutant General performs his duties under precisely the same laws and regulations as an Adjutant General proper. He has the same authority as he would have if duly commissioned in the Adjutant General’s department, so long as he acts in the capacity.

309. His duties require a more extended and varied knowledge of all branches of the service than any other position in the Army, as they extend to details that require positive knowledge of the administration and workings of every part of the sew-ice. Adjutant Generals are ex-officio Inspector Generals (Act, July 5,1838, sec. 3), and have, therefore, the authority to investigate and inquire into the condition and conduct of every part of the command to which they are attached.

310. His authority, if permitted by the General, may be nearly as extensive as that of the General himself depending upon the confidence that his immediate commander has in him. As the responsibility of his acts rest with his immediate commander the Adjutant General, or officer acting as such, should have a definite understanding as to how far he will be sustained; this is necessary, for some General officers prefer to occupy themselves with all the details of their commands, whilst others leave all the matters of routine to their staff officers.

311. The functions, however, which pertain to the Adjutant General, and which even the General should scrupulously respect, is the charge of the office and the books and records that are kept in it; he is held responsible for its proper management, and any course of the General which obstructs him in the proper management of it, is a matter of just dissatisfaction.

312. All orders of the General, and every matter of detail affecting the command, should be executed through the Assistant Adjutant General’s office; all orders affecting the command in any way, all details for detached service, details for guard, all change in the position or condition of the troops, all accessions to the command, all reports and communications from subordinates to the General, in fact, everything essential to the command should be transacted through his office.

313. The following books should be kept in every Assistant Adjutant General’s office, viz.:

- General Order book.

- Special Order book.

- Letter book (record of letters sent).

- Letter book (record of letters received).

- Endorsement and memorandum book.

314. In addition to the foregoing books, Department and Army Headquarters should have the following additional books, viz.:

315. The returns and reports required from every office where an Assistant Adjutant General, or officer acting as such, is on duty, are the following, viz.:

Morning Report, or a Tri-monthly.

Monthly Return.

316. Besides the foregoing, special returns and reports may be called for by higher authority at any time, or may be made without being called for if deemed necessary for the information of the next in authority. The following papers are also made by the Assistant Adjutant General, when circumstances require them, viz.:

Return of the Killed, Wounded and Missing. (Reg. 465.)

Roll of Prisoners of war captured by the enemy.

Roll of Prisoners captured from the enemy. (Reg. 469.)

Report of the Enemy’s Killed and Wounded. (Reg. 469.)

Return of Captured Property. (Reg. 470.)

Files of all General and Special Orders issued. (Reg. 448.)

Report of change of Staff Officers, of Troops, of Posts, New Organizations, etc. (Reg. 466-7.)

317. Letters, reports, requisitions, estimates, court-martial proceedings, proceedings of courts of inquiry, military commissions, boards of survey, military boards of examination and investigation, etc., etc., pass through the Assistant Adjutant General’s office, and should be fully understood by him.

318. The Assistant Adjutant General should also be familiar with the papers, returns, reports, etc., of all subordinate organizations, their form, purport, use and destination, in order to correct errors, give orders and facilitate administration in the command.

319. INSPECTOR GENERAL—A Lieutenant may be assigned to duty as Acting Assistant Inspector General, in which capacity he is required to perform the duties as if he was an officer of the Inspector General’s Department. In an army there is usually an Inspector General, or officer acting as such, to each brigade, division, and army corps.

320. The duties of an Inspector, if properly attended to, are very extensive and arduous, depending upon the fidelity with which they are performed in the details. He is the officer to whom the General refers to inform him of the precise condition of each portion of the command, its efficiency, discipline, location, and wants, and if he has done his duty thoroughly he will save the General a vast deal of labor and much time.

324. He should be prepared to answer all questions as to the character and efficiency of any portion of the command under his inspection. He should notify his immediate commander of any-thing that may not be right in any part of his command in order that it may be corrected with as little delay as possible.

325. It is greatly to the credit of the Inspector if he is feared and even hated in his command, as it is fair to presume that he has done his duty in reporting the errors of the command, for all troops are more or less derelict, and all troops dislike to be reminded of the fact; and all troops, if not stimulated by the fear of punishment or condemnation, or the desire of reward, or to excel, soon degenerate and become indifferent.

326. To derive any reliable knowledge of the condition of a Regiment by an Inspector on parade, it must be minute and thorough. A Regiment may look well generally, and prove to be very bad when examined in detail. To a full Regiment one entire day should be devoted to its inspection. The memoranda should be made at the time, or mistakes will occur and injustice be done.

327. The Adjutant General’s office furnishes blanks that are to be used by the Inspectors. Instructions as to the time and manner of making the reports and as to the duties of Inspectors are printed on the blanks for the guidance of the Inspectors. The blanks are prepared for the different arms of service, as Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry respectively, and for all three in case of the report of a post or other mixed command.

328. AIDE-DE-CAMP—The duties of an Aide-de-Camp are overlooked in our service. Usually an Aide is a young man of family or influence, appointed on a General’s staff to learn the details of the military profession with as little inconvenience as possible. They are generally too young and too inexperienced to be of any use except to carry an order or a message or some other equally plain and simple duty.

329. Properly under the law, and the custom in the French service, the Aide de Camp is second only to the General himself; he is ex-officio Adjutant General, and in the latter capacity is ex-officio Inspector General. He should be competent to represent the General on the battle field, and be able to give orders as if the General himself were present; he should possess sufficient knowledge and experience to receive the entire confidence of the General and know his plans and designs, so that if the General should fall, the disaster would not be irreparable.

330. An Aide-de-Camp should be second only to the General in ability and experience, and competent to deliver verbal orders of the highest importance on the field of battle, to comprehend their intent and to judge of the necessity of a modification of the order where there is no time to return for instructions, and to be able to assume the responsibility and determine what the modification shall be.

331. He should possess sufficient experience to understand the movements of the enemy, to estimate his force, to anticipate his designs, and to determine the dispositions that must be made to meet him, the same as if his General were present. He should, in fact, be the counterpart of the General to represent him whenever it is necessary, or where he desires to be represented. 332. There is no distinct and positive duty for an Aide-de-Camp; he is to do whatever may be required of him by the General, and his services will be in proportion to the amount of knowledge, ability and experience that he may possess. The whole military profession is before him, and he will be appreciated in proportion to his knowledge of it.

333. To be of any use at all, however, he must know the composition of the force which the General commands, the names of the commanders of the different parts, their organization, location  and strength, the means of communication, and the time required to communicate with them. He should know their character, discipline, availability and condition. He should see them frequently, and keep pace with the changes and alterations that are made. 

334. It is not possible for the General to see and know every thing himself, and that portion which the General can with confidence entrust to his Aid-de-Camp, he should require them to attend to, in order to be as free and fresh for any emergency as possible; and the Aide-de-Camp should be at hand to relieve his General from as much detail and mere routine as possible, without even putting him to the inconvenience of designating what he shall do.

335. He should be a man whom the General can make a confidant of when necessary, and to whom he can entrust an official secret, and feel that it will be as sacredly kept as if he alone knew it.

338. Brigade Quartermasters act through the Regimental Quartermasters, and Division Quarter-masters through the Brigade Quartermasters, and so throughout; a Brigade Quartermaster would ordinarily be taken from the Regimental Quartermasters, and Division Quartermaster from the Brigade Quartermasters, and so on throughout the service, and finally the real vacancy would be filled by some Lieutenant as Acting Regimental Quartermaster. 

339. At a military post, however, particularly if the command is small, a line officer would ordinarily be required to perform the duty. A Post Quartermaster has more complicated duties to perform than the Quartermaster of a marching command, as he will usually have a greater amount and variety of property to account for, and the work required of him embraces nearly every sort of labor performed in the Army.

340. The same general principles, however, prevail, no matter what the command is, and what has already been stated for Regimental Quartermasters (par. 282) is all that can be said without going into details beyond the compass of this work.

341. COMMISSARY—The same general remarks that have been made of the Quartermaster apply to the Commissary. Acting Regimental, Brigade and Division Commissaries are appointed in the same way, by the commanders where the positions are not filled by officers from the Commissary Department. What has already been said for the Regimental Commissary, is all that can be given in general terms regarding the duties of Commissaries; the modifications necessary in the different commands will occur to any officer who is capable of performing the duty for a Regiment.

342. ENGINEER.—In the absence of an officer of the Engineer Department, a Lieutenant, or other officer of the line, must be selected frequently to perform the duties belonging to this department. Such a selection would be a compliment, indicating that the officer possessed a knowledge beyond his duties in the line; in fact, the selection of any young officer of the line to perform any staff duty is a compliment as compared with his companions, but the Engineer’s duties, it has always been conceded, require a greater and more varied knowledge of military science than those of any other officer of the Army.

343. The selection of lines of defence; the construction of fortifications; reconnaissance of fortified places, and plans for attack; works for the defence of fortified places; reconnaissance and surveys in the field, and the preparation of maps and charts; the construction of bridges and passage of rivers; the laying out of lines and construction of materials for siege operations, etc., constitute the proper part of an Engineer officer’s duty, that may be learned to a greater or less extent by all officers of the Army, varying from a knowledge of the simplest rifle-pit to the erection of a permanent bastion front.

345. Like other acting appointments, the Acting Engineer officer becomes equally responsible with the officers of the Engineer Department, in the performance of his duties. Regulations are published and circulated by the Engineer Bureau in Washington, showing what books are required to be kept, what reports and returns are required, and the time of making them, and to whom they are sent. By application to the Chief of Engineers at Washington, the regulations, instructions, blank forms, etc., necessary are supplied.

346. JUDGE ADVOCATE—Officers of the line, without reference to grade, are liable to be detailed as Judge Advocate, either temporarily and for a particular court-martial, or permanently as a staff officer to a corps or department commander. The duties of the Judge Advocate of a court-martial have already been given (par. 162).

347. As a staff officer he reviews the proceedings of courts-martial ordered by the General, and calls his attention to the points of each case, and suggests the necessary action; he examines the charges and specifications sent in to headquarters, and advises the General with regard to what is necessary whether they require correction, or whether the matters are of sufficient importance to merit a trial or not; he is, in fact, the legal adviser and counselor of the General in military law and customs of war.

348. The General commanding the corps or department recommends the officer he desires appointed as Judge Advocate on his staff, through the Adjutant General’s department, to the President who makes the appointment, which must be confirmed by the Senate. (Act July 17, 1862, sec. 6.) The officer thus appointed is entitled to the local rank of Major of Cavalry, with the same pay and emoluments.

349. These Judge Advocates are under the general direction of the Judge Advocate General. They should be officers possessing general legal knowledge, and a special knowledge of Courts-Martial and the Customs of War. They are liable to be detailed to act on Courts-Martial in addition to their staff duties.

350. ORDNANCE OFFICER.—In the absence of an officer of the Ordnance Corps, line officers are detailed to act as Officers of Ordnance whenever the command is large enough to justify such an appointment. No additional rank is conferred by this Acting appointment.

351. The duty of the Ordnance Officer is to anticipate the wants of the command in reference to all articles supplied by the Ordnance Department that may be required, but principally a supply of arms and ammunition. The requisitions for Ordnance are referred to him for revision, and are consolidated by him, and the stores drawn and distributed as the requisitions are filled.

352. An Ammunition Train is usually attached to each division in the field, with a sufficient number of wagons to transport the amount of ammunition required to be kept on hand. This train is usually under the direction of the Ordnance Officer in all matters relating to the packing and camping. The wagons are furnished by the Quartermaster’s department, and kept in repair by the Quartermaster. The Ordnance Officer reports to, and receives his instructions from the immediate commander.

354. It is, however, ordinarily a simple matter of receipts and issues, and, if invoices and receipts are always prepared beforehand and signed immediately upon the transfer of the property, the difficulties of delay and change of troops are avoided. Ordinarily the Ordnance Officer would have no expenditures; all expenditures would be made by the company and battery commanders.

355. MUSTERING OFFICER.—Officers of the line are detailed, when necessary, as Mustering Officers. When troops are required from the States by the Federal Government, before they can be considered in service they must first be inspected and mustered by an officer appointed for the purpose by the War Department, who has rolls prepared and verified by an actual muster and inspection, and his certificate to that effect, and the State and General Government each furnished with a copy. This is called Mustering into Service, and the officer detailed to make the inspection and prepare the rolls is the Mustering Officer 

356. It in addition, there is a bounty or advance-pay to be paid, he may be required to do this, and then he is also called a Disbursing Officer This adds greatly to the responsibility and difficulties of the duty. In the recent rebellion the Mustering and Disbursing Officers were responsible for very large sums of money.

357. The accessions and reductions in Volunteer Regiments by enlistments and by expiration of term service require a check, in the person of some responsible officer, in order that no Regiment exceeds its allowance of either men or officers, and that men be discharged when their term of service expires, that officers may promptly enter upon their duties upon promotion; for this purpose a Commissary of Musters is allowed for each corps or department and an Assistant Commissary of Musters for each Division.

358. The duties of Commissary of Musters and the Assistants are fully laid down in General Orders No. 48 and 366, of 1863. But as their duties will vary in the details according to the laws which govern the calling out of additional troops, their duties can here be stated only in general terms.

359. It is his duty to see that the original rolls of each Company and Regiment, on entering service, are correct in every particular, that the proper allowance of officers and men is not exceeded, and that the Company and Regiment are organized according to law. That the men and officers correspond to the names on the rolls, and that they are able-bodied and efficient, and that the Government is not intentionally or otherwise defrauded in the number or character of the troops.

360. In mustering out of service similar precautions constitute his duty; he must see that the rolls are correct, and that the muster out is either in obedience to proper authority, or by expiration of term of service, and that the papers are correct, so that neither the government nor the officer or soldier is defrauded.

361. The system of Musters does not apply to the enlistment of regular troops or their discharge, although the principles involved are precisely similar. The Muster-in roll of any number of volunteers is nothing more than the consolidated descriptive roll of these men on entering the service; and the Muster-out roll is a consolidated final statement of any number of men discharged from service. "The instructions for Mustering and Disbursing officers," issued by the War Department, contain all the principles involved in making musters.

362. PROVOST MARSHAL—Provost Marshals are of two kinds. The strictly Military Provost Marshal is a Military Police officer, whose duty it is to suppress marauding and depredations, and to prevent all kinds of disturbances; to keep order and regulate drinking establishments and other resorts, and prevent drunkenness, and all kinds of disorders; to enforce orders with regard to the conduct of a camp or city, and regulations for the markets, hotels, taverns, and places of public amusement; to make searches, seizures, and arrests; to execute sentences of military courts, involving imprisonment and corporeal or capital punishment.

363. The Provost Marshal takes charge of all prisoners, whether captured from the enemy, or otherwise held; he arrests stragglers and other offenders of the command, and forwards them to their proper regiments and companies, with the written charges against them; he has the supervision of the passes of officers and soldiers, and signs the passes to citizens authorized within the lines for trade or other purposes; he investigates complaints of citizens arising from the conduct of the troops; and may have charge of scouts and spies employed in the command.

364. Such is the character of the duties that are usually assigned to the Provost Marshal, but usually only some part of them would fall to his lot at one time, unless at the headquarters of an army, where the Provost Marshal might have all the foregoing, and more too, to attend to. It is only in time of war that a Provost Marshal is greatly needed, and then he is an officer of great importance, and should not be dispensed with, and he should be selected with reference to his fitness and capacity for the duty.

365. To establish a bureau to control the enrollment of the militia, the enlistment of volunteers and to execute the draft the Provost Marshal General’s Department was organized, first by the War Department, and subsequently by act of Congress. (G. 0., No. 140, 1862; Act March 3d, 1863, sec. 5.) Provost Marshals were appointed for each Congressional District, each Territory, and the District of Columbia, and Deputy Provost Marshals to assist them were authorized, who, in addition to enrolling and drafting, were charged with the arrest and confinement of deserters, spies, and persons resisting or interfering with the enrollment or draft.

366. The District Provost Marshals were appointed from civil life, and were under the orders of the Provost Marshal of the State, and all received their orders and instructions from the Provost Marshal General at Washington. This Provost Marshal system, improperly named, was called into existence by the necessity of raising large armies to suppress the rebellion, which being achieved, the necessity for such a bureau no longer exists, although there is no doubt a bureau.where the enrollment of the male population of the country could be kept correctly, would be of vast assistance in the event of another war.

367. In the field the Provost Marshals were selected from the line officers, and varied in rank from Lieutenants to Generals. They were attached to brigades, divisions, corps, and armies, and often local Provost Marshals for cities, towns, and districts, were appointed, and even detachments, operating independently for a few days, had their Provost Marshals for the time being to look after stragglers, marauders, and pillagers, and to take charge of prisoners.