WAR DEPARTMENT, _December 11, 1839_.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: In submitting the accompanying list[55] of promotions and
appointments, which I respectfully recommend for your approval, I beg
leave to call your attention to that part of it which relates to the
Quartermaster's Department.
The seventh section of the act of 2d of March, 1821, fixing the
military peace establishment, provides "that there shall be one
Quartermaster-General; that there shall be two quartermasters with
the rank, pay, and emoluments of majors of cavalry, and ten assistant
quartermasters, who shall, in addition to their pay in the line, receive
a sum not less than ten nor more than twenty dollars per month, to be
regulated by the Secretary of War."
The third section of the act of the 18th May, 1826, provides for "two
additional quartermasters and ten assistant quartermasters, to be taken
from the line of the Army, who shall have the same rank and compensation
as are provided for like grades by the act of the 2d March, 1821," above
quoted; that is to say, the two additional quartermasters shall have the
"rank, pay, and emoluments of majors of cavalry," and the ten additional
assistant quartermasters "shall, in addition to their pay in the line,
receive a sum not less than $10 nor more than $20 per month."
The ninth section of the act of the 5th July, 1838, provides "that the
President of the United States be authorized, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, to add to the Quartermaster's Department not
exceeding two assistant quartermasters-general with the rank of colonel,
two deputy quartermasters-general with the rank of lieutenant-colonel,
and eight assistant quartermasters with the rank of captain; that the
assistant quartermasters now in service shall have the same rank as is
provided by this act for those hereby authorized: ... _Provided_, That
all the appointments in the Quartermaster's Department shall be made
from the Army, ... and that promotions in said Department shall take
place as in regiments and corps."
These are believed to be the only laws now in force which provide for
the organization of the Quartermaster's Department, and they are here
cited with a view to a full and clear understanding of the question of
precedence of rank between certain officers of that Department.
Prior to the act of the 5th of July, 1838, last quoted, the assistant
quartermasters were selected from the several regiments of the line to
perform duty in the Quartermaster's Department. They were never
commissioned in the Department; they merely received letters of
appointment as assistant quartermasters, and were allowed the additional
pay provided by the act of the 2d March, 1821, and 16th May, 1826. They
held no rank in the Department separate from their rank in the line, and
were liable to be returned to their regiments according to the wants of
the service or at the pleasure of the President. In completing the
organization of the Department provided by the act of 5th July. 1838,
several officers were selected from regiments for appointment as
assistant quartermasters whose lineal rank was greater than that held by
the assistant quartermasters then doing duty in the Department, and on
the 7th of July, the list being nearly completed, it was submitted to
the Senate for confirmation. All the assistant quartermasters thus
submitted to the Senate were confirmed to take rank from the 7th of
July, and in the order they were nominated, which was according to their
seniority in the line and agreeably to what was conceived to be the
intention of the law. Had the opposite course been pursued, the
lieutenants serving in the Department must either have outranked some of
the captains selected or else the selections must have been confined
altogether to the subaltern officers of the Army. It will appear,
therefore, that the relative rank of these officers has been properly
settled, both by a fair construction of the law and the long-established
regulation of the service which requires that "in cases where
commissions of the same grade and date interfere a retrospect is to be
had to former commissions in actual service at the time of appointment."
But as several of the assistant quartermasters who were doing duty in
the Department prior to the act of the 5th of July, 1838, have felt
themselves aggrieved by this construction of the law, and have urged a
consideration of their claims to priority of rank, I have felt it my
duty to lay their communications before you, with a view to their being
submitted to the Senate with the accompanying list,[55] should you think
proper to do so.