This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1847 edition. Excerpt: ...many will be disgusted; resignations of some and perhaps non-acceptance of others will follow. Before matters then can be brought to a proper tone, much time will be lost, and a great deal of trouble and vexation encountered; to overcome which, is not the work of a day; and, till they are overcome, confusion, disorder, and loss must prevail. In the mean while, order, regularity, and discipline, which require the vigilance of every officer to establish, and must flow from the general officers in every army, are neglected or not entered upon in time. Thus it happened last year; and brigades and divisions became vacant, to the great injury of the service. As it is not improper for Congress to have some idea of the present temper of the army, it may not be amiss to remark in this place, that, since the month of August last, between two and three hundred officers have resigned their commissions, and many others were with difficulty dissuaded from it. In the Virginia line only, not less than six colonels, as good as any in the service, have left it lately; and more, I am told, are in the humor to do so. Highly advantageous also would it be, if the recruits and drafts from North Carolina and Virginia were not suffered to halt on their way to camp, under pretence of getting equipped, but sent forward and incorporated into the different regiments of their respective States, as soon as it could be done. Out of the number of men said to be drafted in Virginia last fall, and others from North Carolina, very few have joined the army; but, owing to desertion and other causes, they have dwindled to nothing; and this will always be the case with new recruits, especially those who are unwillingly drawn forth, if much time is spent in getting them to their...