APPENDIXES TO THE REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY. CATIONS, ETC. APPENDIX No. 1. POST OF WILLETS POINT AND ENGINEER SCHOOL OF APPLICATION. ANNUAL REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL C. B. COMSTOCK, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, BVT. BRIG. GEN. U. S. A., OFFICER IN COMMAND, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1886. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the annual report for the Post at Willets Point and the Engineer School of Application. I relieved Lieut. Col. H. L. Abbot of these duties on March 15, 1886. On June 30, 1886, the garrison, present and absent, at Willets Point, consisted of the following officers and men, viz.: Post Commander. Lieut. Col. C. B. Comstock, Corps of Engineers. General staff. Maj. J. C. G. Happersett, surgeon, U. S. A. Captain Charles Richard, assistant surgeon, U. S. A., and 4 enlisted men. Field staff and band. Maj. W. R. King, Corps of Engineers, commanding Battalion of Engineers. First Lieut. James L. Lusk, Corps of Engineers, quartermaster, and 11 enlisted men. Company A, Battalion of Engineers. Capt. J. G. D. Knight, Corps of Engineers, commanding company. First Lieut. H. E. Waterman, Corps of Engineers. Second Lieut. D. DuB. Gaillard, Corps of Engineers. Second Lieut. W. E. Craighill, Corps of Engineers, and 112 enlisted men. Company B, Battalion of Engineers. Second Lieut. H. M. Chittenden, Corps of Engineers, commanding company. Second Lieut. Harry Taylor, Corps of Engineers. Second Lieut. Joseph E. Kuhn, Corps of Engineers, and 112 enlisted men. Company C, Battalion of Engineers. First Lieut. W. C. Langfitt, Corps of Engineers, commanding company. Second Lieut. C. E. Gillette, Corps of Engineers. Second Lieut. W. L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, and 112 enlisted men. Unassigned. First Lieut. C. McD. Townsend, Corps of Engineers. Attached. First Lieut. Allyn Capron, First Artillery. Aside from the ordinary duties at military posts, the officers and men of the Engineer Battalion are required to be familiar with the details of pontoniering, sapping and mining, siege works, and, what is still more difficult, with the complicated details of electrical torpedo defense, the latter requiring a large amount of theoretical and practical instruction. Since at the outbreak of a foreign war the Engineer Battalion would be the only body of soldiers having any knowledge of our fixed torpedo defense, the importance of keeping the Battalion up to at least its present strength and in the highest state of efficiency is evident. During the year it has received practical and theoretical instruction in the subjects mentioned. The water supply of the post is inadequate, being obtained from wells and from cisterns. This makes any general system of sewerage impracticable, and the need of both sewers and an ample water supply should at once be met. In case of fire, with the present water supply, there would be much danger of a great conflagration. The town of Flushing has constructed water-works and its water authorities have made propositions in reference to laying pipes to the Willets Point reservation, which shall supply 600 persons, for $5,000 for the first year and an annual rental of $3,000 thereafter. The Board on the water supply and sewerage of Willets Point constituted by Special Orders No. 187, Adjutant-General's Office, August 17, 1885, objected to the Flushing water supply on the score of its being derived from surface drainage. Flushing now obtains its water from wells sunk in the sand and the water is of good quality. This Board, composed of officers of rank in the Quartermaster's, Medical, and Engineer departments, stated in their report (of which a copy is inclosed, Appendix E) that the present water supply "is entirely inadequate to the comfort of the gar rison for ordinary sanitary purposes and for protection against fire." The Board recommended an artesian well. That has been tried and has failed, and the Flushing supply seems now the only resource. The estimate of the Board for water supply was $30,000. But, as the reservoir and pumping-engine their plan contemplated would be unnecessary if water were obtained from Flushing, this estimate may be reduced to $17,000, as the amount needed for next year. The same Board states that there is no system of sewerage on the post, and estimate the cost of such a system, including the necessary plumbing, at $12,000. During the past winter the lack of quarters has been partially re lieved by several officers occupying but a single room, instead of the two to which they are entitled. The number of officers the coming winter will probably be two to four more than last winter, and the two sets of quarters in the old mess hall are so bad that they should be abandoned. There is needed a new double house, with quarters for four lieutenants, costing $12,000. Detailed estimates are not submitted, since the current Army appropriation bill requires them to be made by the Quartermaster's Depart ment. The Board of Visitors has recommended that permanent barracks be gradually constructed for the companies here, and Lieutenant-Colonel Abbot prepared a plan and estimate for a one-company barrack, which are returned herewith. (See Appendix F.) The following modifications in the plan are proposed: 1. That the barrack be heated by steam or furnaces instead of by stoves. 2. That a basement be put under a part or all of the building, so that when the present mess-hall and kitchens become unserviceable the basement can be used for that purpose. 3. That balconies be put on the rear wing. 4. That latrines and cisterns be provided. Without change in cost or in general dimensions, it may be advisable to change the relative dimensions of the wings when the precise site for the barrack is fixed. The cost of the barrack for 150 men, with these changes, is estimated at $35,000. There is a large amount of stone belonging to the fort on hand and a large amount of ponton material, which is deteriorating. So far as is practicable, this material should be used in constructing new buildings, thus reducing their cost. The Engineer School of Application is at present organized under a project approved by the Secretary of War, given as Appendix A. The object of the school is primarily to form a body of officers and enlisted men who shall be theoretically and practically familiar with the fixed electrical torpedo defense of our harbors, and who, at the outbreak of war, with numbers too small to do the work themselves, would yet have the knowledge needed to supervise others in promptly putting down torpedo defenses. Its secondary object is to give practical instruction in military engi neering, electricity, astronomy, surveying, and photography, and theoretical instruction in civil engineering. An idea of the scope of the instruction can be formed from the orders arranging details of work, and given as Appendices B, C, and D of this report. The following named artillery officers, First Lieut. Allyn Capron, First Artillery; Second Lieut. Charles G. Treat, Fifth Artillery; Second Lieut. Isaac N. Lewis, Second Artillery, were detailed for a seven-months course in torpedo instruction at Willets Point, and were relieved on July 1, 1886. They showed much interest in the work, and would be available for planting torpedoes should an emergency arise. The following is a recapitulation of the funds required for the post at Willets Point and for the Engineer School of Application for the fiscal year 1886-'87 : ESTIMATE OF FUNDS. For water supply, provided $5,000 may be paid to the town of Flushing therefor For sewerage and plumbing. $17,000 For one double building for officers' quarters... 12,000 For purchase, for the Engineer School of Application, of books, instruments, stationery, clerk hire, or extra-duty pay to enlisted men employed as clerks, and miscellaneous.. For one brick barrack for 150 men, provided that any available material at 12,000 35,000 1,000 APPENDIX A.-ORGANIZATION OF ENGINEER SCHOOL OF APPLICATION. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the Board of Engineers for Fortifications, &c., upon the reorganization of the Engineer School of Application, at Willets Point, made in compliance with instructions based upon your authority as granted in indorsement upon my letter of August 18, 1884. In submitting this report I have to say that the first condition necessary to make the school at Willets Point efficient as a practical school of instruction for engineer officers is to insure its permanency. BOARD OF VISITORS. The Board of Engineers for Fortifications, &c., in New York, together with such other officers of the Corps of Engineers above the rank of major as shall be stationed in New York City, should constitute a Board of Visitors, which should visit the school at least twice in each year and make a thorough and detailed inspection of everything connected with it, submitting a report thereof to the Secretary of War, through the Chief of Engineers, with such recommendations in reference to the school as may be deemed necessary. ACADEMIC STAFF. The academic staff of the school should consist of the commanding officer, at least one other field officer, and the captains commanding the companies; the adjutant of the battalion of Engineers should be the secretary. TOURS OF DUTY. The tours of duty of the commanding officer and of the field officers detailed for the school should be as long as possible, subject to the exigencies of the service. The regular tour of the captains should be not less than three years, and only one of them should be relieved in any single year. As the duty of instruction in some branches of the profession will probably devolve upon the adjutant and quartermaster, who should be first lieutenants of high rank, the tour of each should be not less than three years, and only one of them should be relieved in any one year. GRADUATES ASSIGNED TO THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS. All graduates of the Military Academy who may be assigned to the Corps of Engineers, at the expiration of their graduating leave, should, as far as circumstances will permit, be ordered to the School of Application at Willets Point, and their tour of service should not be less than two and a half years. LIBRARY. Provision should be made from the appropriation for incidental expenses of the Engineer Depot at Willets Point for the annual purchase of a few new standard books for the library of the school. INSTRUCTION OF ENLISTED MEN. The enlisted men of the Battalion of Engineers should be instructed not only in their duties as soldiers of the line of the Army, but also iu sapping, mining, pontouiering, the duties of a Torpedo Corps, &c. The non-commissioned officers of the Battalion should receive theoretical as well as practical instruction. REORGANIZATION OF THE ENGINEER SCHOOL OF APPLICATION. The following plan of reorganization of the school, mainly a repetition of the ideas submitted in the report of the Board of Engineers, is recommended for approval. The establishment shall be designated "The Engineer School of Application of the Army of the United States." It shall be divided into five departments, as follows: Submarine Mining.-Including electricity, our own and foreign systems of defensive torpedo warfare, and modern high explosives. Military Engineering.-Including the operations of armies in the field, sea-coast defense, modern siege operations, and modern ordnance. Military Photography.-Including all methods of map multiplication in the field, and the use of the camera. Practical Astronomy.—Including the best methods and the use of instruments employed upon the more important boundary surveys. Civil Engineering.—Including practical surveying, river and harbor improvements, and barometric hypsometry. OBJECT OF ESTABLISHMENT. The object of the establishment should be to conduct researches in the branches of science applicable to the duties of the Corps of Engineers, to instruct newly assigned officers in the profession, and to train the enlisted men of the Battalion of Engineers to the highest possible degree of efficiency. COMMAND. The establishment, under the Chief of Engineers, should be under the military command of the officer of Engineers, assigned to the command of the Post of Willets Point, N. Y. ACADEMIC STAFF. The academic staff should consist of the commandant of the other field officers of the school, and of the captains commanding the Engineer companies stationed at Willets Point. Any other officer charged with a department of instruction should be a member when his branch is under consideration. The adjutant of the Battalion of Engineers should be the secretary of the academic staff. STUDENTS. The students should consist of the subaltern officers serving with companies, of such other officers as may be authorized to study the course in whole or in part, and of the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Battalion of Engineers stationed at Willets Point. |