Quartermaster-General ........ Commissary-General of Subsistence Board of Visitors to the Military Academy. Board of Commissioners of Soldiers' Home on the State, War, and Navy Department Building Reports upon the improvement of the South Pass concerning Leavenworth military prison Report of the Freedmen's Branch of the Adjutant-General's Office. Report of the Chief Signal-Officer. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR. WAR DEPARTMENT, November 19, 1878. Mr. PRESIDENT: In accordance with law I have the honor to submit the annual report of the operations of this department. THE ARMY. It appears from the report of the General of the Army that, according to the latest returns, received October 15, 1878, the strength of the several arms of the service was as follows: Cavalry Artillery Infantry Engineer Battalion.... Permanent and recruiting parties, music-boys, and recruits in depots...... Ordnance Department... West Point detachments. Prison-guard.............. Hospital stewards. Ordnance sergeants Grand total..... Enlisted men. 7,829 2,630 11, 205 199 1, 121 372 394 190 71 188 114 148 300 24, 761 The reports of the Quartermaster-General and Commissary-General of Subsistence, as well as those of the General of the Army and the department and division commanders, all concur in showing that the Army has been well and economically subsisted and clothed, while the character of the rank and file has been materially improved. Great care has been exercised in the selection of recruits, and as one of the gratifying results the number of desertions has been considerably reduced, the total decrease below the number last year being 838. The aggregate number of desertions during each of the past six years has been as follows: Aggregate number of desertions from United States Army, fiscal year endingJune 30, 1873.... |