appurtenances. An analogy to this proposed measure may be found in the ordnance-sergeants of the Army, appointed under the act of April 5, 1832, for the care of ordnance stores at posts.

REPORTS OF BATTLES.

Much attention and labor has been expended upon the preparation of the documents relating to the rebellion, required to be printed by resolution of May 19, 1864. Eight volumes, with maps and indexes, have been completed and sent to the Public Printer. The greater part of the other reports of battles, marches, &c., have been copied and arranged, but await the receipt of some important reports, which, though repeatedly called for, have not been furnished, and are requisite to preserve the chronological order.

REGISTER OF VOLUNTEERS.

The Register of Volunteer Officers called for by resolution approved June 30, 1864, will be completed by the time Congress assembles, and all the manuscript will by that time be in the hands of the Public Printer. As will be seen by examination, it is a work of considerable magnitude, embracing some 200,000 names of officers. No pains have been spared to make it a full and accurate record of every volunteer regiment received into the U. S. service during the war.

VOLUNTEER SERVICE.

The accompanying statement, marked B, will show the number of volunteer recruits, drafted men, and substitutes forwarded to the field (aggregate 202,117), and of volunteers, drafted men, and militia mustered out and discharged (aggregate 61,000), under the direction of this office, from November 1, 1864, until April 30, 1865.

When the work came of disbanding the large armies no longer required by the exigencies of the service, the plan suggested by experience, which had been successful with small bodies, was continued. The same machinery of mustering officers and depots which had been employed in recruiting has been used in discharging. As many regiments as could be at one time furnished with means of transportation and funds for paying them off, have been sent home with their organization entire, from time to time as they could be spared from the department in which they were serving, beginning with those whose terms of service would soonest expire. The regiments have been mustered out of service on rolls carefully prepared to exhibit the dues from the Government to each soldier. The rolls, boxed up and sent under charge of an officer, have arrived at the State rendezvous simultaneously with the regiments. The officers of each regiment have been held to a strict accountability, under pain of forfeiture of an Honorable discharge and pay, for the good behavior of the enlisted men until all were finally paid their dues and furnished with discharges within a few miles of their homes. With rare exceptions the conduct of these gallant regiments, coming from every part of the North, has been most admirable in maintaining the strict discipline which made them successful in battle, until they were released