ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL. WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, October 1, 1895. SIR: I have the honor to submit my annual report for the year ended September 1, 1895. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT. The death, February 19, 1895, of Lieut. Col. James P. Martin, late adjutant-general of the Department of the Missouri, and the retirement of one officer in May, 1896, will reduce the strength of the AdjutantGeneral's Department to the limit prescribed by the act of August 6, 1894. All the officers of the Department, and those of the line on duty with the division of military information in this office, have performed their important and delicate duties with ability and efficiency. THE DIVISION OF MILITARY INFORMATION. On the 1st of March, 1895, Capt. Alexander Rodgers, Fourth Cavalry, was, upon his own application, relieved from duty in this division to enable him to return to service with his regiment. No other change in the personnel of the division has occurred since my last annual report. Early in the year No. 4 of the information series, Notes on Organization, Armament, and Military Progress, was issued and, so far as the limited supply would permit, was distributed to the Army. This book is an epitome of the more important foreign military organizations and contains a detailed description of the modern small arms in use at home and abroad. It is intended to follow this publication by a series of Notes on Military Progress, the first of which will be issued during the coming year, containing such of the latest military information, not confidential, as may be on file in the military information division. No. 4 was followed later in the year by No. 5, the second issue of The Organized Militia of the United States, which presents in concise form a summary of the condition and efficiency for service of the State troops during the encampment season of 1894. No. 6, The Autum Maneuvers of 1894, Austria-Hungary, France, and Germany, followed No. 5. This book contains a detailed narrative of the maneuvers, accompanied by carefully prepared maps, official orders, and statements of the numbers and organizations of the opposing forces, so that the operations can be studied in detail. It was issued to every troop, battery, and company in the Army. The calls for military information are unceasing and come from officers of all grades, Members of Congress, other civil officers of the Government, and occasionally from civilians who have no connection with either the National or State governments. Frivolous inquiries are exceptional, so that nearly all questions are answered as fully as the information at hand will permit. In several cases the information communicated covered over 100 typewritten pages. The moderate appropriation for contingencies of the military informa tion division has proved to be just about sufficient for its requirements. The collection of maps and charts has received large and important additions. Numerous and interesting reports have been received from the various military attachés during the year. The number of Army officers regularly employed at the State headquarters is this year 33, an increase of 6 over the details of last year. In all, during the year 1895, 43 States and Territories obtained the services of officers of the Army for temporary or regular duty with State troops. The assembly of troops of the permanent establishment with those of the States in State camps has now been essayed with success. The next step will be to assemble troops of the permanent establishment and troops of the several States in a common camp, within the limits of some Government park or reservation, to be brigaded with each other-as they would be in time of actual war-not by States, and to be maneuvered accordingly. This must be accomplished with the consent of officers of one State to serve under officers of another State of higher grade or earlier date of commission; and it may require some additional appropriation from the General Government. Gradu ally the instruction can be developed into autumn maneuvers for the instruction of the young men who are to be the colonels and generals in any future wars. Thus can they be educated beyond the theory, and made perfect in the practice of handling large bodies of men, so that in the day of hostilities they may come upon the field without a halting hesitation, with full confidence in themselves, and with a knowledge of what should be done to the economy of life and the winning of battles. THE RECRUITING SERVICE. The change established last year in methods of conducting the recruiting service, whereby general-service recruits are no longer held three months for instruction, but are promptly forwarded to regiments from recruiting stations and rendezvous, has been productive of good results. In August, 1894, there were 1,516 recruits accumulated at the depots, now styled rendezvous; by October 31, 1894, there were but 224, and since then the number held at any one time at the four rendezvous, awaiting assignment, has averaged 152, or 38 to each rendezvous. During the ten months ending July 31, 1895, 3,359 general-service recruits were forwarded to regiments-1,226 directly from recruiting stations and 2,133 from rendezvous. With the exception of a few large detachments in October and November, 1894, which were forwarded |