Care of Fortifications.

41. No cattle, horses, sheep, goat, or other animal, shall ever be permitted to go upon the slopes, the ramparts, or the parapets, nor upon the glacis, except within fenced limits, which should not approach the crest nearer than 30 feet.

42. All grassed surfaces, excepting the glacis, will be carefully and frequently mowed (except in dry weather), and the oftener the better, while growing rapidly-the grass never being allowed to be more than a few inches high. In order to cut the grass even and close, upon small slopes a light one-handed scythe should be used; and in mowing the steep slopes, the mower should stand on a light ladder resting against the slope, and not upon the grass. Crops of hay may be cut on the glacis; or, if fenced, it may be used as pasture; otherwise it should be treated as other slopes of the fortification. On all the slopes, spots of dead grass will be cut out and replaced by fresh sods. All weeds will be eradicated. A very little labor, applied steadily and judiciously, will maintain the grassed surfaces, even of the largest of our forts, in good condition.

43. The burning of grass upon any portion of a fortification is strictly forbidden.

44. Particular attention is required to prevent the formation of gullies in the parade, terreplein, and ramps, and especially in slopes where grass is not well established. If neglected, they soon involve heavy expense.

45. Earth, sand, or ashes must not be placed against wood-work; a free ventilation must be preserved around it; and all wooden floors, platforms, bridges, &c., will be kept clean swept.

46. The machinery of draw-bridges, gates, and posterns must be kept in good working order by proper cleaning and oiling of the parts; the bridges will be raised, and the gates and posterns opened as often as once a week.

47. The terrepleins of forts, the floors of casemates, caponniers, storerooms, barracks, galleries, posterns, magazines, &c., and the sidewalks in front of quarters and barracks, as well as other walks, are sometimes paved with bricks or stones, or formed of concrete. These surfaces must be preserved from injury with great care. In transporting guns and carriages, and in mounting them, strong way-planks will be used, and neither the wheels nor any other part of the carriages, nor any machinery, such as shears, gins, &c., nor any handspike or other implements, will be allowed to touch those surfaces. Unless protected in a similar manner, no wheelbarrow or other vehicle, no barrels, hogsheads, &c., will be rolled upon these surfaces. No violent work will be suffered to be done upon them, such as cutting wood, breaking coal, &c., and no heavy weight be thrown er permitted to fall thereon. In using machines, as gins, &c., in casemates, care must be taken not to injure the arch or ceiling, as well as the

Care of Armament of Fortifications.

floor. Neglect of these precautions may cause injuries slight in appearance but serious in effect from the leaking of water into masonry and casemates, and expensive to repair.

48. The doors and windows of all store-rooms and unoccupied case mates, quarters, barracks, &c., will be opened several times a week for thorough ventilation.

49. The masonry shot-furnaces will be heated only on the approach of an enemy. For ordinary practice with hot shot, iron furnaces are provided. 50. The foregoing matters involve but little expense; the labor is within the means of every garrison, and no technical knowledge is called for beyond what will be found among soldiers. Other repairs requiring small disbursements, such as repainting exposed wood or iron work, can be also executed by the garrison; but reports, estimates, and requisitions may be necessary to obtain the materials.

51. No alteration will be made in any fortification, or in its casemates, quarters, barracks, magazines, store-houses, or any other building belonging to it; nor will any building of any kind, or work of earth, masonry, or timber be erected within the fortification, or on its exterior within half a mile, except under the superintendence of the Engineer Department, and by the authority of the Secretary of War.

ARTICLE X.

CARE OF ARMAMENT OF FORTIFICATIONS.

52. At each permanent post with a fixed battery, and garrisoned by not more than one company, there will be kept mounted, for purposes of instruction and target practice, three heavy guns, and at posts garrisoned by more than one company, at the rate of two for each of the companies composing its garrison. The other guns dismounted will be properly placed (see page 21, Ordnance Manual for 1850) within their own traverse circles, and the carriages preserved from the weather.

53. All guns should be sponged clean and their vents examined to see that they are clear. The chassis should be traversed and left in a different position, the top carriage moved backward and forward and left alternately over the front and rear transoms of the chassis; the elevating screws or machines wiped clean, worked and oiled if required, and the nuts of all bolts screwed up tight. This should all be done regularly once in every week.

54. When tarpaulins, or pent houses, are placed over the guns, they should be removed once a week when the weather is fair, the carriages and guns brushed off, and, if damp, allowed to dry.

55. An old sponge-staff and head should be used for drill. The new

Artillery Practice.

sponges should never be used unless the gun is fired. The implements should be kept in store, under cover, and be examined, wiped clean or brushed at least once a month. In the case of leather equipments, the directions for the preservation of harness in the Ordnance Manual should be followed.

56. The magazine should be frequently examined to see that the powder is well preserved. It should be opened every other day when the air is dry and clear. Barrels of powder should be turned and rolled occasionally. Under ordinary circumstances, only a few cartridges should be kept filled. If the paper body of the cartridge becomes soft or loses its sizing, it is certain that the magazine is very damp, and some means should be found to improve the ventilation. Cartridge bags may be kept in the magazine ready for filling; also port-fires, fuzes, tubes, and primers. Stands of grape, canisters, and wads for barbette guns, should be kept in store with the implements. For casemate guns, wads may be hung in bundles, and grape and canisters placed near the guns. Shot, well lacquered and clean, may be placed in piles near the guns.

ARTICLE XI.

ARTILLERY PRACTICE.

57. At all posts with fixed batteries, the position of every gun, mounted or to be mounted, will have its number, and this number be placed on the gun when in position.

58. For every such work a post-book of record will be kept, under the direction of the commander of the post, in which will be duly enteredthe number of each mounted gun, its calibre, weight, names of founder and its inspector, and other marks; the description of its carriage and date of reception at the post; where from; and the greatest field of fire of the gun in its position.

59. Every commander of a fort or other fixed battery will, before entering on artillery practice, carefully reconnoitre and cause to be sketched for his record-book, the water-channels with their soundings, and other approaches to the work. Buoys or marks will be placed at the extreme and intermediate ranges of the guns, and these marks be numerically noted on the sketch. A buoy at every five hundred yards may suffice.

60. At the time of practice, a distinct and careful note will be made for the record-book of every shot or shell that may be thrown, designating the guns fired by their numbers, the charges of powder used, the times of flight of shots and shells, the ranges and ricochets, and the positions guns in respect to the horizontal and vertical lines.

of

61. The time of flight of a shell may be noted with sufficient accuracy

Artillery Practice.

by a stop-watch, or by counting the beats (previously ascertaining their value) of other watches, and the range may sometimes be computed by the time of flight. Other modes of ascertaining the range will readily occur to officers of science.

62. When charged shells with fuzes are thrown, the time of bursting will be noted. If they are intended to fall on land, only a blowing charge will be given to the shells, so that they may be picked up for further use.

63. On filling from the barrel, the proof range of powder will be marked on the cartridges.

64. The general objects of this practice are-to give to officers and men the ready and effective use of batteries; to preserve on record the more important results for the benefit of the same, or future commanders, and to ascertain the efficiency of guns and carriages.

65. Commanders of field artillery will also keep registers of their practice, so that not a shot or shell shall be thrown in the Army, for instruction, without distinct objects, such as range, accuracy of aim, number of ricochets, time of bursting, in the case of shells, &c.

66. Every company with a field battery will be allowed for annuai practice as many blank cartridges for the instruction and drill as may be necessary for the purpose, on requisitions duly approved at the proper Departments. Companies with fixed batteries will be allowed 100 cartridges each, with seventy-five shots or shells. This ammunition will be expended in equal parts in the three months designated below, and if the company be mounted, eight blank cartridges will be allowed for each of the other months in the year. This allowance is intended only for companies permanently serving with batteries. The firing with field-guns by other Artillery companies must be confined to blank cartridges.

67. For all Artillery there will be annually three periods of practice in firing-April, June, and October for the latitude of Washington and south; and May, July, and September north of that latitude.

68. At the termination of each period of practice, the commanding officers of posts will transmit to the Adjutant-General full reports of the results, in order that proper tabular statements may be prepared for the War Department.

69. To determine targets will be used.

accuracy of aim in firing shot and shell, butts or Where no natural butt presents itself, targets will be erected. A form for floating targets will be sent to the commanders of the several forts.

70. As practice in gunnery is a heavy expense to government, commanders of companies and their immediate superiors are charged with

Regiments. Non-Commissioned Officers.

the strict execution of the foregoing details; and all officers authorized to make tours of inspection will report, through the prescribed channels, on such execution.

ARTICLE XII.

REGIMENTS.

71. On the organization of a regiment, the companies receive a permanent designation by letters beginning with A, and the officers are assigned to companies; afterward, company officers succeed to companies, as promoted to fill vacancies. Companies take place in the battalion according to the rank of their captains.

72. Captains should be with their companies. Therefore, although subject to the temporary details of service, as for courts-martial, military boards, &c., they shall not, except for urgent reasons, be detailed upon any duty which may separate them for any considerable time from their companies.

73. The commander of a regiment will appoint the adjutant from the subalterns of the regiment. He will nominate the regimental quartermaster to the Secretary of War for appointment if approved. He will appoint the non-commissioned staff of the regiment; and, upon the recommendation of the company commanders, the sergeants and corporals of companies.

74. In cases of vacancy, and till a decision can be had from regimental head-quarters, the company commanders may make temporary appointments of non-commissioned officers.

75. Commanders of regiments are enjoined to avail themselves of every opportunity of instructing both officers and men in the exercise and management of field artillery; and all commanders ought to encourage useful occupations, and manly exercises and diversions among their men, and to repress dissipation and immorality.

76. Regiments serving on foot, being usually employed as light troops, will be habitually exercised in the system of U. S. Tactics for light infantry and riflemen adopted by the War Department, May 1, 1861.

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

77. A board, to consist of the Professors of Mathematics and Ethics and the Commandant of Cadets, will convene at the Military Academy, on the first Monday of September in every year, for the examination of such non-commissioned officers, for promotion, as have already passed the regimental examination prescribed in General Orders No. 17, of October 4 1854.