The only bounty paid by the United States' between March 31, 1864, and July 19, 1864, was the $100 authorized by the act of July 22, 1861. Circular No. 27, of July 19, 1864, from this office, authorized the payment of bounty as follows, in accordance with the act approved July 4, 1864: To recruits enlisting for one year. $100 00 200 00 300 00 A special bounty of $300 was paid from the draft and substitute fund to men enlisting in the 1st army corps, in addition to the bounty authorized by circular No. 27, of July 19, 1864, from this office, in accordance with General Orders No. 287, of November 28, 1864, from the Adjutant General's office. With this exception, the bounty authorized by circular No. 27, of July 19, 1864, from this office, was the only bounty paid by the United States from the date of said circular to the end of the war. Drafted men, and substitutes for drafted men, were paid the $100 bounty until the passage of the act of Congress approved July 4, 1864, when it was decided that all authority for the payment of bounty to drafted men and substitutes had been rescinded by that act. Letters from the War Department, dated November 29, 1863, to Major General B. F. Butler, and of December 22, 1863, to Major General Q. A. Gillmore, authorized the payment of a bounty not to exceed $10 per man for colored recruits. This bounty was also paid from this fund. General Orders No. 115, of June 15, 1865, from the Adjutant General's office, fixed July 1, 1865, as the date upon which the United States should cease to pay bounty to recruits for the military service. Tabular statement showing the bounties paid by the United States during the war. SECOND AUDITOR'S AND PAYMASTER GENERAL'S CASES. Numerous letters of inquiry as to the payment of advance bounty to certain soldiers are sent to this office by the Second Auditor of the Treasury and the Paymaster General of the army. Each inquiry is examined and reported upon separately, and consumes much time and labor. These reports are based upon information obtained from the muster-in rolls on file in the Adjutant General's office, and from the bounty accounts of mustering and disbursing officers on file in this office. In many cases all the rolls of a regiment have to be examined to find the name of the man about whom inquiry is made; and where there was more than one officer disbursing in the State at the time the man was mustered in, each one of these officer's bounty accounts has to be examined, to ascertain whether the man was paid or not. To give some idea of the amount of labor expended on these reports, I will state that the number reported on and returned to the Second Auditor and Paymaster General from January, 1864, to January 1, 1866, is 6,268. These inquiries are increasing daily in number. CONTRACTS. For the purpose of keeping a record of all contracts approved for subsisting and lodging recruits, rent of recruiting offices, &c., a book known as "Contracts, Collecting, Drilling, and Organizing Volunteers," was opened, headed as follows: The number of contracts approved in this office to January 1, 1866, is 1,241, as follows: Number approved to May 1, 1863... Number approved between May 1, 1863, and January 1, 1866. Total number approved.. 43 1,198 1,241 One copy of each contract is filed in this office, and another copy is sent to the Second Comptroller of the Treasury. REPORTS. The reports required from mustering and disbursing officers are as follows: 1st. Weekly report of all public funds on hand pertaining to the appropriations for collecting, drilling, and organizing volunteers, pay of bounty, and draft and substitute fund; for the purpose of condensing and keeping a record of these reports, a book, known as "Book of Weekly Reports," is kept, headed as follows: 2d. A monthly report of "persons and articles hired and employed." This report gives the name of each employé, the salary paid, the date and source of the approval. It also gives a list of all articles hired, with the rate of hire, and the source and authority for hiring. These reports are filed in the office. CLERKS AND EMPLOYÉS. Continual changes have taken place in the clerical force of this office from its organization to the present time. Only six clerks were employed in the beginning, but as the business of the office increased the force was increased, and on the 1st of May, 1863, there were eighteen clerks employed. The greatest number employed at any time was forty-five, and the number borne on the register of the office at the present time is twenty-three; two of these are not on duty in this office-one being in the bureau of rebel archives, and one in General Ketchum's office. Until very lately, the majority of the clerks employed in this office were enlisted men detailed from the general service and veteran reserve corps. The clerks now employed in this office are classified as follows: 1, class 4, $1,800 per annum; 1, class 3, $1,600 per annum; 1, class 2, $1,400 per annum; 17, class 1, $1,200 per annum; 1 enlisted man, sergeant, general service; 2 enlisted men, privates, veteran reserve corps. The other employés now engaged in this office, are: 1 messenger, private, general service; 1 janitor, $60 per month; 1 fireman and laborer, $50 per month. To give an idea of the amount of labor performed by the clerical force of this office from its opening to the 1st of January, 1866, the following figures are submitted: Total number of monthly and quarterly accounts examined to May 1, 1863..... 149 Total number of monthly and quarterly accounts examined from May 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866 3,751 3,900 Total number of claims of recruiting officers and others connected with 651 8,354 9,005 Total number of Second Auditor's and Paymaster General's cases... 6,268 Total number of contracts approved prior to May 1, 1863 .. 43 1,198 1,241 Total number of letters sent prior to May 1, 1863... 3,213 Total number of letters sent from May 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866... 7,025 10,238 Total number of letters received prior to May 1, 1863,.. 4,416 1866..... 18,553 22,969 Total number of indorsements prior to May 1, 1863.... 1,932 18,749 20,681 Total number of telegrams received to May 1, 1863... 111 354 465 Total number of telegrams sent to May 1, 1863.. 140 Total number of telegrams sent from May 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866 470 GENERAL REMARKS. 610 In the early part of the war the recruitment of volunteers was almost entirely under the control of the governors of States, and so continued until this branch of the service was placed under your control, when superintendents of volunteer recruiting service were appointed for each State. The great disadvantage to the government, and the unnecessary expenses incurred in the recruitment of volunteers, under the system then in force, became every day more and more obvious, and steps were at once taken to correct this evil, and place the whole matter under the exclusive control of the officers of the general government. With this view the recruitment of volunteers for old organizations was first placed under the control of the superintendents of volunteer recruiting service in each State, and in the latter part of March, 1864, the recruitment of all volunteers, both for new and old organizations, was placed under their charge. The advantages arising from this change can be seen upon an examination of the records of this office. Under the present system but few, if any, fraudulent claims have been paid. The total amount expended from the fund for collecting, drilling, and organizing volunteers, for the recruitment of volunteers from August 5, 1861-the date of first appropriation-to April 30, 1863, was* Amount expended by the several States in raising volunteers in 1861 and 1862, and for which claims for reimbursement have been presented to the Third Auditor... Total amount expended for the raising of volunteers from the commencement of the war to April 30, 1863.... Total number of men put into the service during the same time. Average cost per man. The total amount expended froin the fund for collecting, drilling, and organizing volunteers, for the recruitment of volunteers from May 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866, was..... Amount expended in recruitment of volunteers and enrolment and draft, from draft and substitute fund, from June 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866, was. $16, 512, 699 67 29, 631, 185 99 46, 143, 885 66 1, 356, 593 $34 01 $6,905, 192 24 4, 122, 522 97 Total amount expended in the recruitment of volunteers and enrolment and draft from May 1, 1863, to January 1, 1866 11,027,715 21 Total number of men put into service by draft and yolunteering during the same time. Average cost per man. 1, 120, 621 $9 84 In arriving at the foregoing statement no consideration has been taken of the amount paid by disbursing officers since May 1, 1863, for recruiting expenses incurred prior to that date, as it is believed that that amount is certainly as great, most probably greater, than the amount now due for recruiting expenses incurred since May 1, 1863, but not yet paid. It will be seen by this statement that, although the premium on gold, and cost of subsistence, lodgings, rent of offices, stationery, &c., was much higher in 1864-'65 than in 1861-'62, yet the expense of putting each man into the service was nearly four times greater during the first two years of the war than it was during the last two years. I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, CHAUNCEY MCKEEVER, Brevet Brigadier General and Assistant Adjutant General. Brevet Major General JAMES B. FRY, Provost Marshal General. The actual amount expended during this time was $20,512,699 67, but of this amount $4,000,000 was used for paying bounties by order of the Secretary of War. |