dicate that these guns cannot be relied upon, o be made for the department. t knowledge of the properties of metals and e rifle guns of large calibre can be made of ion, caused a pair of eight-inch rifle guns of weight to be made. These guns are now at proof, and should their endurance be satiser guns like them made. ONAL ARMORY. ent for the manufacture of muskets was not report, and upon the conclusion of hostilities, skets on hand of a model which will probane manufacture was reduced as rapidly as it d at present no new muskets are being aswere in different stages of advancement are it was in contemplation to change the manusoon as the best model for a breech-loading that details for effecting this measure would bureau. Extensive experiments have been Iso under my direction and supervision, to ef arm has been presented which I have been 1. The selection of a proper model is considI have preferred to act slowly and with great ke a false step and have to retrace it. I hope d a model for your appoval. -loading musket into efficient breech-loaders morer at Springfield armory, which appears to ve seen. I have taken measures to have five g to it, and will have some of them issued to ations can be made. pattern which have been turned in by the red. kets on hand and suitable for issue will reach ber of foreign and captured muskets will exthe latter class will probably be required for ation of them will be attended with considerwhenever suitable prices can be obtained for apply to other ordnance stores of a perishathe wants of the department. led your attention to the danger of keeping ur arsenals, which are generally in the vicin and recommended that a suitable site for a ne hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder ion of the war has left this department with epared ammunition on hand, all of which has uch of it in buildings which are entirely ungering the safety of the arsenals, and in some vicinity. This evil cannot be corrected too ention to the necessity of obtaining from Conable site for a powder depot. isked for an appropriation for the purchase of a site and the erection of In my last annual repo Adjacent to Rock islan If additional legislation The buildings erected as turned over to the Ordnance Several of the southern ar of the department to reocc North Carolina, which was d An extensive powder-mill The number of permanent upply the current wants of the army should be kept at the arsenals. ilitary reserve at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, being a suitable position der depot, for supplying the Mississippi valley, and a portion of it havyears ago been assigned to this department for the erection of powder s, I have taken measures to have three magazines, capable of containhousand barrels each, erected on it; and two of them will be finished last annual report I stated that, in pursuance of the provisions of the ngress approved April 19, 1864, possession had been taken of Rock - the purpose of building and maintaining thereon an arsenal for the on, deposit, and repairs of arms and munitions of war. The United s not yet acquired a title to the property which has been taken possesIt is important that the provisions of the act of Congress above referred be carried into effect, and a complete title to all of Rock island acthe United States before any permanent buildings are commenced. end that this be done with as little delay as practicable. Evidences the land, of which possession has been taken, have been forwarded examination by the Attorney General, as is required by the act above t to Rock island, and connected with it by a dam, is a small island, Benham's island, of which possession has not been taken. It appears een the intention of Congress in passing the act above referred to that d States should have full and complete possession and control of Rock military purposes. Should Benham's island, or any other small islands ons in the river, lying between Rock island and the shores of Illinois be held by private parties, with the right of way across the island claimed by the owner of Benham's island, the principal object of the ethereby defeated. ional legislation is necessary to give the United States full possession ol of the whole of Rock island, including the adjacent island, I recomit be asked of Congress. ildings erected as a prison and barracks on Rock island have been r to the Ordnance department, and are now used as storehouses, &c. of the southern arsenals have been reoccupied, and it is the intention artment to reoccupy all of them, except the Fayetteville arsenal, in olina, which was destroyed. nsive powder-mill at Augusta, Georgia, and a large armory (unfinished) ratory at Macon, Georgia, which were built by the rebel government, into possession of this department. The necessary measures for the property have been taken. nber of permanent United States arsenals and armories, exclusive of depots established for war purposes, most of which have been, and h will soon be discontinued, is now twenty-eight. In addition to the and supervision of these, the officers of this department are charged spection of materials and manufacture of ordnance, gunpowder, and arms and equipments as are made for the government at the foundries, ls, and other private establishments. These duties furnish constant t for all the officers of the ordnance corps now authorized by law, imber of which is sixty-four. The arsenals alone require, as a minier in time of peace, fifty-six, and the bureau and inspection duties at more. During the late rebellion the want of a greater number of nance officers, educated for and experienced in their peculiar duties, ly felt; and the necessity, arising from the inadequate provision in t, of the frequent employment of acting ordnance officers, caused rrassment and confusion, and was detrimental to the public service 618 895 Such was the disposition o In one-the department of In other military departme OFFICE OF THE SIGNAL OFFICER, n answer to your communication of the 7th instant, I have the honor the following annual report of the operations of the signal corps for ending October 20, 1865: 1st of November, 1864, the corps was represented in the field by the detachments, thoroughly equipped, active, and energetic, to wit: as the disposition of the corps, and the following, in general terms, of services performed: ies of the corps during the past year were better understood than in years, which gave to it more tone and character, and enabled it to te in most of the military departments to its true position. -the department of the Gulf-it combined all the branches of the formation which it was designed, and of right ought to be. Here aerial telegraphing, telescopic reconnoitring, and general scouting, secret service department, thus having all information usually gathhese sources flow into one common centre, where it was compared, reduced to logical form, and then laid before the commanding general upon. The advantage arising from thus concentrating these services apparent in the fact that particular reports and doubtful information horoughly sifted and tested in two, three, or more, different modes, officer having control of the several means for collecting knowledge ny's movements and designs. military departments, as I have stated, the corps only approximated e perfect system of economy. But as the value of concentration in ganizations was being daily more and more recognized, these duties, had continued, would undoubtedly have been eventually assigned to wherever a detachment of it would have been placed upon duty. dutics were limited to signal communication, ges and movements of the enemy, and such > perform. [ajor General Sherman the signal detachment ic reconnoitring general scouting, courier, ent of the South was limited to keeping comal military posts along the coast, and between perating in conjunction. cperated with the various expeditions against unication between detached parties and the ania the signal detachment was employed in omac, as well as doing general outpost duty, formation to the commanding general of any De met upon the threshold of the department, uld be done to the community. and North Carolina, in addition to communiof the army, and the observing of the movement was beneficially employed in various e army and navy combined, connecting the immediately as to make their several efforts their blows fell with double effect upon the enemy. ing been, at the opening of the spring camthe power of the government having been t, the great work of disbanding and returning ilitary force of the United States was com army having been organized by an act of ovisions had a view to permanency, but gave For the term of the rebellion-was, by various materially reduced, until all that portion of river was mustered out and discharged. ent in the military division of the Mississippi, commissioned officers, and thirty-five enlisted ilitary division of the Gulf, numbering fifteen officers, and eighty-six enlisted men. These the troops upon the plains, and throughout a boundary. THE SIGNAL OFFICER. is three-fold in its character. It is, first, the the records are collected, completed, and filed, and control of the special duties of the corps, and men to signal duty. Second, a purchasch supplies of signal stores and equipments nts of the corps in the field. Third, an office accounts and returns of signal stores of all for such property. e two clerks of "class two," to wit, Messrs. ley, appointed in 1863. To the ability and is owing much of the degree of system and of the office. There were expended sums appropriated for the hundred and thirty-seven to that yet remaining of f for the fiscal year ending forty-eight thousand and s Having thus given a ge penses, I propose, without and various acts of servi battle fought, and campaig a more or less important f Department, several insta vital importance that all w a valuable adjunct to the a contest just closed that its faction a substantial reco attend the introduction of p The first instance of th October, 1864, and just p of General Sherman from great leader, whose milita means to aid in securing rences to endanger his bility of his telegraph w toona being cut, he esta through which he afterw and cut his telegraph wir tions that saved from cap value of which, at that ti can well be doubted wheth ness of the enemy and pr rebellion, could have been transaction, General Sher corps) has transmitted ord portance that could not one most remarkable case. made a lodgement on our ning's hill, Kenesaw, and whereby General Corse wa Had it not been for the se we should have lost the g provisions there, which wa gate expense of the whole the important character with the army alone. ты fulness where the army an organized to attack Fort 1 signal officer was with Ad General Terry, commandi these commanding officers navy, which otherwise mu the part of the army, was |