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CHAPTER VIII.

The War Department, and Secretary of War.

1. The name of this department sufficiently indicates the design and object of its creation, and the kind of public business committed to its care and management. The Secretary of War is the head of it, its principal officer. He is one of the great officers of State and a member of the Cabinet. He, like all the heads of departments, is appointed by the President and Senate. Four years is the time for which he is appointed, but, with the consent of the Senate, he may be sooner removed by the President, if he sees fit to do so. He receives $8,000 per annum as his salary. In military authority he ranks next to the President.

2. As stated in another place, the Constitution makes no specific provision for this or any other of the departments into which the government is divided. They are all the creations of Congress, and exist by enactments of law. The War Department, with several others, was created at the first session of the first Congress, which met after the Government went into operation under the Constitution, in 1789.

3. We can convey no better idea of the object of establishing this department and the officer at its head, than by quoting the first section of the act by which they were created: "There shall be an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of War;

and there shall be a principal officer therein, to be 'called the Secretary for the Department of War, who shall perform and execute such duties as shall from time to time be enjoined on or entrusted to him by the President of the United States, agreeably to the Constitution, relative to military commissions or to the land forces, ships, or warlike stores of the United States; or to such other matters respecting military affairs as the President of the United States shall assign to the said department; and furthermore, the said principal officer shall conduct the business of the said department in such manner as the President of the United States shall from time to time order or instruct."

4. According to the act by which this department was established, a Chief Clerk, appointed by the Secretary, was the second officer in authority in it, and acted in his stead in case of vacancy in the Secretaryship. But in 1861 Congress passed an act authorizing the President to appoint an Assistant Secretary of War; and in 1862 another act was passed, authorizing the appointment of two additional Assistants. This, however, was intended as a temporary arrangement, to last only during the existence of the lamentable civil war which was at that time in progress, and which necessarily greatly increased the business of the department.

5. The Secretary of War has in his keeping all books, records, and papers, relating to military affairs. Here are to be found the names of all officers and men whether in the regular army or in the volunteer service. Connected with the War Department, are a number of sub

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departments, or bureaus, as these sub-departments are commonly called; among which are the Commissary, the Quatermaster's and Ordnance Departments. These are all under the general supervision and direction of the Secretary.

6. In time of peace the War Department attracts no particular public notice. But in time of war it draws around it more attention than any other branch of the government; for on its good or bad management the weal or woe of the nation depends.

Hence the Secretary of War should be a man well acquainted with military affairs, of sound judgment, and of undoubted integrity. In this department all accounts relating to military matters are kept and adjusted.

In addition to the Assistant Secretaries, the President and Senate were authorized, in 1863, to appoint a Solicitor in the War Department. These, with a large clerical force, transact the business of this important branch of the government.

The following is a list of the names of all who have filled the office of Secretary of War, from the first down to the present incumbent, with the dates of their appointment, and the States in which they lived:

SECRETARIES OF WAR.

Henry Knox, Mass., Sept. 12, 1789.
Timothy Pickering, Pa., Jan. 2, 1795.
James McHenry, Md., Jan. 27, 1796.
James Marshall, Va., May 7, 1800.
Samuel Dexter, Mass., May 13, 1800.
Roger Griswold, Ct., Feb. 3, 1801.

Henry Dearborn, Mass., March 5, 1801.
William Eustis, Mass., March 7, 1809.
John Armstrong, N. Y., Jan. 13, 1813.
James Monroe, Va., Sept. 27, 1814.
Willlam H. Crawford, Ga., March 2, 1815.
Isaac Shelby, Ky., March 5, 1817.
G. Graham, Va., April 7, 1817.
John C. Calhoun, S. C., Oct. 8, 1817.
James Barbour, Va., March 7, 1825.
Peter B. Porter, N. Y., May 26, 1828.
J. H. Eaton, Tenn., March 9, 1829.
Lewis Cass, Mich., Aug. 1, 1831.
Benjamin F. Butler, N. Y., March 3, 1837..
Joel R. Poinsett, S. C., March 7, 1837.
John Bell, Tenn., March 5, 1841..
John McLean, O., Sept. 13, 1841.
John C. Spencer, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1841.
James M. Porter, Pa., March 8, 1843.
William Wilkins, Pa., Feb. 15, 1844.
William L. Marcy, N. Y., March 5, 1845.
George W. Crawford, Ga., March 6, 1849.
Charles M. Conrad, La., Aug. 8, 1850.
Jefferson Davis, Miss., March 5, 1853.
John B. Floyd, Va., March 6, 1857.
Joseph Holt, Ky., Dec. 30, 1860.
Simon Cameron, Pa., March 5, 1861.
Edwin M. Stanton, Pa., Jan. 13, 1862.

Ulysses S. Grant, Ill., 1868.

J. M. Schofield, 1868.

John A. Rawlins, Ill., Mch. 5, '69. Died Sept. 6, '69.

Wm. T. Sherman, Sept. 9, 1869.

Wm. W. Belknap, Oct. 25, 1869.

CHAPTER IX.

Navy Department, and Secretary of the Navy.

1. The Navy and the Army are the two strong arms of the nation. By these we preserve order at home and protect ourselves against wrongs abroad, or invasion of our rights by any foreign power, whether at home or elsewhere. They may be termed the belligerent parts of the government; and if we institute a comparison between them, it is not easy to determine which is the stronger arm, or which is the more efficient agent of national defence.

2. The Navy Department, like the War Department, was established at an early period after the adoption of the Constitution. The office of Secretary of the Navy was created at the same time that the department itself was. He is appointed by the President and Senate, is one of the highest officers of the Government, one of the seven members of the Cabinet, and receives a salary of $8,000 per annum.

As the President is Commander-in-Chief as well of the Navy as of the Army, the Secretary of course acts under his direction. It is made his duty to execute the President's orders relative to the procurement of naval stores and materials, and the construction, armament, equipment and employment of vessels of war, and all other matters connected with the naval establishment.

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