During the fiscal year 216 reports were received from the inspectors. Over 11,000 inventories and reports of inspection of property recommended for sale or condemnation and 293 reports of boards of survey were received and acted on.

A record of the Quartermaster's Department, and of reports of commanding officers and inspectors in relation to his performance of duty has been kept. Five hundred and ninety-one annual reports of officers were rendered during the fiscal year, and 340 such reports have been received since its termination. From the information given in these reports, tables of quantities and of expenditures by officers have been prepared, which accompany this report.

Several boards for examination of officers of this department have been session during for examination of officers of this department have been is session during the year. Two hundred and forty-three officers have been examined, of whom forty-nine were reported by the boards as disqualified and 194 as qualified.

On the 30th of June, 1865, there were in the Quartermaster's Department:

Regular officers......................................67

Military store-keepers................................11

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78

Assistant quartermaster of volunteers................488

Total, including eleven military store-keepers......566

Many of these officers have, for distinguished services during the war, received brevet promotion beyond their lineal rank. Many have been assigned to important positions, to which, under the law, increased, though temporary, rank is attached.

The report of the inspection division gives details as to the number of officers who have won such distinction. For the names I must refer to the tables accompanying this reports in which most of them are mentioned, and to the Army Register. During the fiscal year there were appointed 5 assistant quartermasters of the Regular Army, 145 assistant quartermasters of the Volunteer Army, and 2 military store-keepers.

During the fiscal year there retired from the service 5 assistant quartermasters of the Regular Army and 203 assistant quartermasters of volunteers. Since the termination of the fiscal year, and to the 1st of October, 1 assistant quartermaster of regulars, 1 military store-keeper, and 172 assistant quartermaster of volunteers have retired from the service, resigned, dismissed, or honorably mustered out.

The reduction is still going on rapidly, as troops are discharged and posts abandoned, and the service of these officers can be dispensed with. Three hundred and eighty-two officers in all left the service of the Quartermaster's Department between the 1st of July, 1864, and the 1st of October, 1865.

The distribution of general orders to officers of the Quartermaster's Department is part of the duty of the inspection division. It distributed during the fiscal year 177,289 copies of general orders, of which 124,177 were general orders of the Adjutant-General's Office.

Colonel Rutherford's vigilance and promptness in the discharge of his duties have been most important aids in the supervision of the extended operations of this department, and I am happy to acknowledge the recognition which they have met from the Secretary of War.