--737--

16th Congress.] 

No. 199. 

[2d Session.

MARINE CORPS.

COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 13, 1821.

Navy Department, February 10, 1821,

In obedience to a resolution of the honorable the House of Representatives passed on the 5th instant, in relation to that portion of the Marine Corps performing duty in the city of Washington, I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith, copy of a letter from the Commandant of Marines, accompanied by statements numbered 1, 2, and 3, which will, it is believed, afford all the information required by the aforesaid resolution.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your most obedient servant,

SMITH THOMPSON.

The Honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Head-Quarters of the Marine Corps,

Washington, February 7, 1821.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit the, accompanying documents, illustrative of the resolution of the honorable House of Representatives of the 5th instant. No. 1 is a return of the strength of that portion of the corps stationed at the city of Washington; No. 2, a statement of the annual expenditures in the quartermaster's department; No. 3, the annual expenditures in the paymaster's department, showing the pay and emoluments of all the officers. The annual expenditures in the pay and quartermaster's returns, Nos. 2 and 3, are calculated from the number of officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, now actually at head-quarters. The number increases and diminishes, as occasion requires, but the variations are trivial.

It now remains to state the duties of the officers that come within the purview of that resolution.

I. The lieutenant colonel commandant of the corps has the following duties to perform:

1st. The distribution of the corps in guards, at the various navy yards in the United States, and on board the different armed vessels.

2d. The general superintendence over those guards, and a responsibility for the faithful performance of the duties respectively appertaining to them.

3d. Attention to the reports of the officers having command of those guards.

4th. The general superintendence of the duties of the staff. These are the principal military duties of the commanding officer of the corps. In addition to these he has other highly responsible duties to attend to in the economical and faithful expenditure of the appropriation for the corps.

1st. In entering into contracts for furnishing the clothing and rations for the corps, both of which have to pass under his immediate inspection; and for the proper performance of which duty he is immediately responsible.

2d. In the attention he has to bestow on the expenditure of the contingent fund; and he is also responsible for all the applications of that fund.

Besides these prominent duties, the lieutenant colonel commandant has to attend to all the minutiœ of the duty, of his command.

II. The adjutant and inspector of the corps has various duties to come under his attention.

1st. He keeps an exact detail of the number and distribution of all the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates in the corps.

2d. He keeps the size-roll book of the corps, in which are entered the names, age, place of birth, time and term of enlistment of every non-commissioned officer and private in the corps; in which he notes all reductions and promotions of non-commissioned officers; all desertions, deaths, and all apprehensions of deserters. He attends to all the various discharges from the corps, and notes down the circumstances of such discharges in this book.

3d. He receives monthly, muster-rolls from the commanding officers of the different guards, and takes due note of them. These are his office duties. He has, also, important military duties to receive his attention.

1st He attends and forms all parades, both battalion and the ordinary morning ones.

2d. He inspects weekly the arms, accoutrements, and military appearance of the soldiers at head-quarters. It is also his duly to inspect the guards at the various stations on shore, when he is ordered to do so.

3d. He instructs all officers who join the corps in the manual and battalion exercise. He has also to attend to other duties of a less important nature, and which occupy a considerable portion of his time and attention.

III. The duties of the quartermaster of the corps are—

1st. To receive from the contractors the clothing for the corps.

2d. The distribution of that clothing to the guards at the various stations, and to those on board the armed vessels, as the exigencies of the service may require, and to keep accounts with the commanding officers of those guards relative to the distribution thereof to the soldiers under their command.

3d. He issues to each non-commissioned officer, musician, and private, at head-quarters, the allowance of clothing made him, and keeps an account thereof. He inspects, weekly, the clothing of the men, and reports accordingly to the commanding officer.

4th. He makes daily requisitions for provisions for the guard in barracks and at the magazine, and sees that those provisions are agreeable to the contract. He furnishes fuel for both guards, and, by vigilance, prevents the waste thereof.

5th. He adjusts and settles all accounts for repairs of the barracks at the different navy yards, and all accounts for freight and transportation.

6th. He examines all provision returns from the different stations.

7th. He attends to the particular disbursements of the contingent fund, and makes semi-annual settlements with the Fourth Auditor.

IV. The duties of the paymaster of the corps are—

1st. To keep the accounts of all the officers of the corps, and to settle with them the amount of their pay and emoluments.

2d. To pay off the guards at the various navy yards, personally, if required; if not personally, to forward funds to the different commanding officers, and to receive and enter the pay-rolls when they have been forwarded to him.

Various other accounts of a less important nature are examined, paid, and entered, by the paymaster of the corps.

Having thus stated the duties of the commanding officer of the corps, and the staff officers, it only remains to state the duties of the officers and soldiers of every kind at head-quarters.

From the earliest establishment of the corps, a larger number of men have been kept at head-quarters than at any other station. The number has been gradually decreasing, as the exigencies of the service required that they

--738--

should be sent elsewhere. The distribution of the portion of the Marine Corps at present at head-quarters is stated in the adjutant and inspector's report, marked No. 1.

The guard at the navy yard, under the charge of a first lieutenant, is detached for the preservation of the public property in the yard.

The guard at the magazine is detached, under the command of a sergeant, for the safe-keeping of the powder in it, and for the preservation of the buildings there.

The duties performed within the marine barracks at head-quarters, particularly under the superintendence of the commandant of the corps, are various.

1st. An armorer's shop is kept up, in which are repaired the arms from all the separate posts, and from the armed vessels, which are unfit for use.

2d. Carpenters are kept, who make all repairs required for the preservation of the barracks.

3d. The musicians for all the ramifications of the corps are instructed at head-quarters, and distributed as the exigencies of the service require. They are essentially required on board the vessels of war under all circumstances, but more particularly in action, where all the varieties of a naval engagement are directed by the beat of the drum. Under such circumstances, a school for the instruction of musicians cannot fail to be useful. The one here is conducted with every attention to economy and to practical usefulness.

4th. All officers appointed in the corps are ordered here in order to receive instruction, that they may be capable of performing the duties assigned them, which may be always, in some degree, called active, as they are ordered on board ships of war in distant seas, for the protection of our widely extended commerce. With this object in view, it has been deemed expedient to keep up the skeleton of a battalion, as, without it, the necessary instructions could not be given to newly appointed officers. One captain and three or four subaltern officers are generally kept here to superintend the performance of the above duties, and for the execution of the ordinary military and police duties of the barracks. When new appointments take place, the number of subalterns is increased until they are instructed in their duties, when they are detached.

In concluding this report, which I have endeavored to make as nearly as possible coincident with the resolution of the House of Representatives, I will take the opportunity to observe that the military and practical efficiency of the Marine Corps was fully tested during the late war with Great Britain. It co-operated with the navy in all the maritime achievements of that eventful period with honor to itself, and, I trust, with usefulness and reputation to our country.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, Lieut. Col. Commandant. Hon. Smith Thompson, Secretary of the Navy.

No. 1.

A return of the strength of that part of the United States' Marine Corps stationed at Head-Quarters, Washington, February 7, 1821.

Lieutenant Colonel

Captains and Majors by brevet.

Commissioned staff.

First Lieutenants.

Second Lieutenants.

Medical staff.

Non-commissioned staff.

Sergeants.

Corporals.

Musicians.

Privates.

Aggregate.

 

On command,

1

2

3

34

40

Navy yard and magazine guards.

In garrison,

1

1

3

3

3

3

9

8

17

90

139

1

1

3

4

3

1

3

11

11

17

124

179

PARK G. HOWLE, Adjutant and Inspector of the United States' Marine Corps.

No. 2.

Estimate of Clothing for the United States' Marines, at Head-Quarters, for one year.

14 Sergeants, at $34 74 1/2,

$486 43

11 Corporals, at 30 84 1/2,

339 29 1/2

17 Musicians, at 32 34 1/2,

549 86 1/2

124 Privates, at 30 84 1/2,

3,824 78

Estimate of Fuel.

Fuel for the commandant's, adjutant's, quartermaster's, and paymaster's office, at 12 cords each per year—48 Cords at $6,

288 00

Fuel for non-commissioned officers, musicians, privates, and women—180, at 9 feet each per year, 202 1/2,

1,215 00

Magazine Guard.

Nine men at 1 1/2 cords per year—10 1/8 cords,

60 75

Navy Yard Guard.

Fuel for thirty men, at 1 1/8 of a cord—33 cords and 3 feet, at $6 per cord,

190 25

$6,954 37

BENJAMIN RICHARDSON,

Quartermaster Marine Corps.

Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Henderson,

Commandant United States' Marine Corps.

--739--

No. 3.

A statement showing the amount of expenses, annually, of the detachment of marines in the paymaster's department, stationed at head-quarters, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Henderson, commandant of the corps; taken from the strength on the 7th of February, 1821.

Pay per month.

Number
of rations.

Amount
per
rations.

Number
of
horses.

Amount
allowed
for
each
horse.

Number
of
servants.

Pay per
month
for each
servant.

Fuel per
month.

Amount
of fuel
per
cord.

Annual
amount
of pay and
emoluments.

1 Lieutenant colonel commandant,

$75

12

20 cts.

3

$8

2

$14 84

3 cords
in winter
and 1 1/2
in summer.

$8

$2,636 16

1 Captain,

40

3

20

1

8

771 00

1 Adjutant and inspector,

60

3

20

1

8

1,011 00

1 Paymaster,

60

3

20

1

8

1,011 00

1 Quartermaster,

60

3

20

1

8

1,011 00

4 First lieutenants,

30

3

20

1

8

2,604 00

3 Second lieutenants,

25

3

1

8

1,773 00

1 Sergeant major,

1 ration
drawn in
kind.

20

120 00

1 Fife major,

10

1 ration
drawn in
kind, and
accounted
for below.

108 00

1 Quartermaster sergeant,

9

1 do.

120 00

11 Sergeants,

10

1 do.

1,188 00

11 Corporals,

9

1 do.

1,056 00

17 Musicians,

8

1 do.

1,428 00

124 Privates,

7

1 do.

8,928 00

135 Rations furnished by contractor,

6

15

7,391 25

$31,156 41

There are a number of contingent accounts which are paid by the paymaster.

R. M. DESHA, Paymaster.