ginning with the movement from Culpepper last spring, and continuing down to the present writing, has been a severe one in all respects, for all branches of the service. From the outset, General Grant cut boldly loose from his line of supplies-the Orange and Alexandria Railroad-and trusted to luck and hard blows to find another. Loading up his wagons, he turned his army, though more numerous than ever before, into a movable column, fighting as it marched, and resolved to depend for supplies on a base equally movable. His first change of base was from Culpepper to Fredericksburg or rather Belle Plain, next to Port Royal, next to the White House, and then to City Point, or at least it is still there at this writing. All of these changes involved gigantic work on the part of the Quartermaster's Department, which was all the more onerous and harassing because no one could say how long it would prove available. Nevertheless, no sooner was Fredericksburg occupied, than men were set to work to rebuild and reopen the railroad to Aquia Creek. In less than a fortnight, the road was in working order, though it involved the construction of wharves at Aquia Creek, and the building of a bridge across Potomac Creek four hundred and twenty-two feet long, by eighty-two feet high, which was finished, it is said, in two and a half days, or forty working hours. The road was run for barely a week or so, when Grant cut loose from Fredericksburg, and the base of operations was switched to Port Royal. A few days sufficed for that line, when again the base was transferred to the White House. Scarcely twenty-four hours after our advance reached Bottom's Bridge, so as to cover the necessary work, locomotives were whistling on the York River Railroad, and in less than a week the road to the White House, for all army purposes, was in full working condition. Then came the crossing of the James, and the halt at Petersburg; and, more recently, the attack on the Weldon Road, and the tenacious holding of it. This last move so lengthened his lines, that Grant called for a railroad to bring up his supplies, and almost before the country had fairly heard of the commencement of the work, a railroad ten miles long was in full blast from City Point to his extreme left. From this statement in the rough, hasty and imperfect as it necessarily is, it may well be believed that the work of thus following up and sustaining the Lieutenant-General's army has been no mere child's play. Half the job would be sufficient to engross the attention, and to tax to the utmost the energies of most men; and none but really able man-of stout heart and fertile brain-could possibly have succeeded when assigned the whole. Any ordinary brigadier, such men as usually find their way into the command of brigades and divisions, would have broken down the campaign and starved the army long ago. That the army has not been starved, but well fed, and the cam

paign throughout stoutly maintained, let the country, in thanking others-alas, but too often far less deserving!-forget not also to thank, at least half-way, the long-suffering, much-abused, but in most instances, hard-working officers of the Quartermaster's Department.

In our next article we will consider the operations in the West.

BREECH-LOADING MUSKET.

BY MAJOR T. T. S. LAIDLEY, U. S. ORD. DEPT.

THAT the soldier should be armed and equipped in such a manner as to render him in the highest possible degree efficient, is a general proposition which will be readily acceded to by all. The nation which neglects this principle, or is slow to perceive and adopt those improvements (which, if adopted, would materially add to the efficiency of its troops), either from some mistaken idea of economy, or from a blind adherence to that which has gained a hold upon the affections by time and by valuable service, must soon or late pay dearly for its supineness or infatuation.

At no time in the history of the world has greater activity been displayed by all nations than at the present, in searching out and adopting new improvements in arms and materiel, and whatever may tend to add to their power of attack and of defence.

During the last few years the merits of the rifle-musket have been generally conceded, and this improved arm has been adopted by all nations.

Rifled cannon for field-service are used exclusively in all services except our own, to our discredit it must be said: for siege and harbor defence, they are rapidly working their way into general use. Guns of monster size are deemed not only practicable, but necessary: new explosive materials are sought: the balloon and telegraph are applied to military uses: war vessels propelled by steam have been generally introduced, and navies are regarded as incomplete, and incapable of performing their expected duties, if they have not their fleet of iron-clad vessels.

There is still another improvement that is now attracting much attention, one that has already been partially adopted, and must soon be generally introduced by all nations,-I mean the adoption of breech-loading, in place of muzzle-loading arms, for all foot, as well as mounted troops.

The advantages of the breech-loading system have long been acknowledged, in the abstract; and there are to be found in the Artillery Museums of Europe arms constructed, more than two hundred years ago, on this principle-efforts made at this early age to solve this important but difficult problem.

Great stress has been laid by military writers, of all times, and even by recent writers of our own service, on the great waste of ammunition that takes place in all battles-the large number of cartridges fired, for the number of men disabledand have founded on this an argument against the breech-loading arm, on account of the increased facility it gives for rapid firing.

That accuracy of fire is a consideration of the first importance, and that it should be increased to its greatest possible extent, no one will pretend to deny. That there is a vast deal of ammunition thrown away uselessly, by both infantry and artillery troops, is equally evident-our own experience confirms the fact. It has been estimated that from three thousand to ten thousand balls were fired in European armies, to place one man hors de combat, and though the percentage of balls that prove effective, to those fired, has doubtless been very much decreased in our recent battles, it is not to be gainsaid, that there is still, in all engagements, a great waste of ammunition. But why lay such special stress on this waste of ammunition? war, of what is there not a great waste? a waste of men, of arms, of ammunition, of supplies of all kinds; so that it may be properly designated as in itself a great waste.

In

Increase the accuracy of fire to its utmost possible extent, but let it not be pretended that it is not desirable to deliver a greater number of shots in a given time than the enemy. This is one of the fallacies that belong to the past-one that our recent battles have effectually exploded.

There are in our service those, to whom if you speak of the advantages of a breech-loading arm for infantry, they will urge, in addition to the objection of the waste of ammunition just referred to, that the breech-loading apparatus is liable to get out of order, and then the gun is worthless. They will, probably, wind up their argument by telling you, as conclusive on the subject, of the report of Major C- on the first crude breech-loading arm offered to our service: "That it shot well, and was a very good gun, but it was such a pity that the barrel was made in two parts;" or, of Colonel F-'s remark on the same gun, "that if the muzzle-loading arm had then been known for the first time, it would be regarded as a great invention."

Norway was the nation which first acknowledged the importance of abolishing the inconvenient and troublesome mode of loading with a ramrod, by adopting for the infantry a

breech-loading musket. No change, however, was made in the manner of firing, but the percussion-cap was used, and put on in the usual way, by hand. In 1851, a different_arm, also breech-loading, was given to the Swedish Marine. Soon after, Prussia took a great stride in advance of the other nations, by doing away with the two most difficult and troublesome operations in loading, the use of the ramrod to send the cartridge home, and putting the cap on the cone,-by the introduction into service of the needle-gun, as it is called, which is breech loading, and has the cap in the cartridge. The efficiency of this arm in the hands of the Prussian infantry, has proved so striking, in the recent campaign in Denmark, that England, for almost the first time, has taken a lesson from a war, in which she has not been engaged, and has, by a formal decision of the War Department, ordered that her infantry shall, in future, be armed with breech-loading muskets. The particular model which is to be adopted remains yet to be determined.

The Emperor Napoleon has also adopted the breech-loading system, in arming his special corps, the Cent-Gardes.

In determining this question for ourselves, whether there are any advantages to be gained by adopting the breech-loading system for the musket, we are not left entirely to the deductions of theory, but are enabled to call to our aid the voice of experience, that umpire, from whose decisions theorists cannot appeal.

The examination of the muskets, picked up on the battlefield of Gettysburg, reveals a fact that few would be prepared to admit, and speaks in terms which should not pass unheeded, as to the inherent defects of the muzzle-loading system.

Of the twenty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy-four muskets collected after the battle, it was found that twentyfour thousand were loaded: twelve thousand contained each two loads, and six thousand (over twenty per cent.), were charged with from three to ten loads each.

One musket had in it twenty-three loads, each charge being put down in regular order. Oftentimes the cartridge was loaded without being first broken, and in many instances it was inserted, the ball down first.

What an exhibit of useless guns does this present!-useless for that day's work, and from causes peculiar to the system of loading.

But experience has spoken out yet more unmistakably in favor of the advantages of the breech-loading musket. There have been several instances where a single regiment, armed with breech-loading, self-capping rifles, has held in check a whole brigade armed with the ordinary musket; and in a line of skirmishers, repelling an attack, the portion of the troops

armed with the breech-loading rifle, is readily distinguished by their advanced position. They are not so easily driven in.

To those who oppose the introduction of the breech-loading musket on the ground that it is liable to get out of order, by a derangement of the breech-loading parts, we would point to the large number of muzzle-loading guns which are rendered unserviceable by causes which would be inoperative with breech-loading arms.

To those who oppose its adoption on the ground that men fire too rapidly already, and throw away, uselessly, too much ammunition, we would recommend the remedy of introducing into the Manual of Arms certain motions, having for their object to retard the loading; such, for instance, as wiping out and lubricating the bore after each shot. Besides accomplishing the object which they have in view, this operation would have a decidedly beneficial effect, in increasing the accuracy of fire, and might be omitted when deemed advisable by the officers.

It is understood that the question of changing the system of loading the musket to breech loading, has claimed the attention of the indefatigable Secretary of War, who is ever ready to lend an ear to proposals for increasing the efficiency of his Department, and he has directed a Board of officers to be convened, for the purpose of determining whether it is advisable to make any change in the present musket, and if so, what they would recommend.

It cannot, of course, be known for some time, perhaps for months, what will be the action of this Board; but whatever it may be, it can hardly be doubted that the order appointing the Board may be regarded as the death-warrant of the rammer and the percussion-cap. They have had their day, and must now soon be numbered among the things of the past, to be seen only in the museums of arms, indices of the age in which they were used, mile-stones on the pathway of progressive improvement.