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X. THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.

THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.

May 27, 1775, Congress appointed a committee to consider ways and means to supply the colonies with ammunition and military stores, and the British Government having prohibited the exportation of arms and ammunition to any of the plantations the Congress authorized the exportation of produce in all vessels importing munitions of war.

While, July 16, 1776, a Commissioner of Artillery Stores was appointed (April 11, 1777, styled Commissioner-General of Military Stores) the business of procuring arms and ammunition was conducted by a secret committee and the Board of War.

The act of April 2, 1794, authorized the President to appoint an officer whose duty, under the Department of War, was to superintend the receiving, safe-keeping, and distribution of military stores.

The Ordnance Department was first established under the act of May 14, 1812. It was not provided for in the reduction of the Army March 3, 1815; but the act of April 24, 1816, provided that it be continued as organized under the act of February 8, 1815.

By the act of March 2, 1821, the Ordnance Department, as an independent bureau, was abolished and merged in the artillery. The President was authorized to select such artillery officers as might be necessary to perform ordnance duties, and to each regiment of that arm one supernumerary captain was attached for ordnance duty. The provision of that law making the artillery officers subject only to the orders of the War Department while on ordnance duty was almost tantamount to preserving the independence of the bureau, and must be regarded as a manifestation by Congress of a want of confidence in the success of the scheme. The law was passed in the interests of economy, simplicity of organization, and thoroughness of instruction. Mr. Secretary Calhoun, who strongly advocated the measure, said:

By uniting the three corps of the ordnance, light artillery, and artillery in one, appointing one general staff at the head of it, and making its officers pass in rotation through the three services, the organization of the Army will be rendered more simple and the instruction of the officers much more complete.

Experience, however, proved that neither interest was at all subserved. After eleven years' trial the experiment proved a failure, and was so acknowledged by the ablest generals of the Army and the most distinguished public men of the country, including Mr. Calhoun himself. Accordingly the Department was reorganized on an independent footing by the act of April 5, 1832.

Commissary of Artillery Stores.

Aug. 17, 1775.-Mr. Ezekiel Cheever.

July 16, 1776.-Benjamin Flower, esq. (Pennsylvania), for the flying camp.
Jan. 18, 1777.-Maj. Samuel French.

Feb. 1, 1777.-Mr. St. George Peale, for Maryland.

Feb. 1, 1777.-Maj. Jonathan Gostelow.

Feb. 5, 1777.-Maj. Joseph Watkins.

Mar. 8, 1777.-Maj. Charles Lukens.

Sept. 17, 1782.-Richard Frothingham, for the main army.

Inspector-General of Ordnance and Military Manufactories.

Aug. 11, 1777.-Mons. du Coudray (France).

Commissary-General of Military Stores.

July 16, 1776.-Benjamin Flower, esq. (Pennsylvania).
July 12, 1781.-Samuel Hodgdon (Pennsylvania).

Commissary-General of Ordnance.

July 2, 1812.-Col. Decius Wadsworth (Connecticut).

Chief of Ordnance.

Feb. 9, 1815.-Lieut. Col. (Col. May 30, 1832) George Bomford (New York).
Mar. 25, 1848.-Col. (Bvt. Brig. Gen. May 30, 1848) George Talcott (New York).
July 10, 1851.—Col. (Bvt. Brig. Gen. Mar. 13, 1865) Henry K. Craig (Pennsylvania).
Aug. 3, 1861.-Brig. Gen. (Bvt. Maj. Gen. Mar. 13, 1865) James W. Ripley (Con-
necticut).

Sept. 15, 1863.-Brig. Gen. (Bvt. Maj. Gen. Mar. 13, 1865) George D. Ramsey (District of Columbia).

Sept. 12, 1864.-Brig. Gen. (Bvt. Maj. Gen. Mar. 13, 1865) Alexander B. Dyer (Mis

souri).

June 23, 1874.-Brig. Gen. Stephen V. Benét (Florida).

Jan. 23, 1891.-—Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Flagler (New York).
Apr. 5, 1899.-Brig. Gen. Adelbert R. Buffington (Virginia).

THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.

JOURNALS OF THE AMERICAN (CONTINENTAL) CONGRESS.

May 27, 1775.

Upon motion, agreed, that Mr. Washington, Mr. Schuyler, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Deane, Mr. Morris, and Mr. S. Adams be a committee to consider on ways and means to supply these colonies with ammunition and military stores.

June 10, 1775.

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several towns and districts in the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, and the eastern division of New Jersey, to collect all the saltpetre and brimstone of their several towns and districts, and transmit the same, with all possible dispatch, to the provincial convention at New York.

That it be recommended to the provincial convention of the colony of New York to have the powder mills in that colony put into such a condition as immediately to manufacture into gunpowder, for the use of the continent, whatever materials may be procured in the manner above directed.

That it be recommended to the committees of the western division of New Jersey, the colonies of Pennsylvania, lower counties on Delaware and Maryland, that they without delay collect the saltpetre and sulphur in their respective colonies, and transmit the same for the committee of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, to the end that those articles may be immediately manufactured into gunpowder for the use of the continent.

That it be recommended to the conventions and committees of the colonies of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina that they without delay collect the saltpetre and sulphur in their respective colonies, and procure these articles to be manufactured, as soon as possible, into gunpowder for the use of the continent.

That it be recommended to the several inhabitants of the United Colonies who are possessed of saltpetre and sulphur for their own use to dispose of them for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder. That the saltpetre and sulphur collected in consequence of the above resolves of Congress be paid for out of the continental fund.

That Mr. Paine, Mr. Lee, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Schuyler, and Mr. Johnson be a committee to devise ways and means to introduce the manufacture of saltpetre in these colonies.

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