HIS CHANCES FOR ADVANCEMENT.
His first duty is to learn thoroughly his work as a private. Having done that well, he is without doubt prepared to teach others the same work. The officers are always watching for bright and intelligent men, and so will recommend for the next grade, and his captain will secure for him the appointment as corporal. Many men have not had the advantages of others before they enter the ranks, and for them to have the same chances of promotion post-schools are provided, each with a competent instructor, and under the charge of a commissioned officer.
On becoming a corporal some increase of responsibility is given our young soldier. He must wear as an indication of his rank two V-shaped stripes upon his arms and a narrow one down each trousers leg, of the color of the service insignia—red for artillery, yellow for cavalry, white for infantry. Instead of being conducted about in ranks, he now stands in line at the right end of his squad of eight men; when his squad is separate he is in command. He no longer walks post as sentry, but has charge of a relief, i. e., one of the divisions of a guard. The men of a relief all walk post at the same time. He must put his men on their posts as sentries, and stay awake and answer their calls so long as they are there. Many other duties, clerical, police, and provost, are given corporals, according to their ability.
Vacancies constantly occur in the higher positions, and the custom is to fill them from the next lower rank. If our corporal has shown his ability to command firmly but in a manner pleasant to his associates while in his present grade, his chances are the best to be recommended for an appointment as a sergeant by the captain of his company. The corporal receives $15 and a sergeant $18 per month in the artillery, cavalry, and infantry.
A sergeant's command is double that of a corporal, and on guard he divides his time in charge of the guard-house with another sergeant while overseeing the corporals and their reliefs. On drill he is over a section of two squads; in barracks he has charge of one sleeping-room; must keep order and enforce discipline. Thus still more ability to command other men must be shown. Corporals and sergeants are called "non-commissioned officers," because they receive a warrant from their colonel countersigned by the adjutant as authority of rank, in place of a commission from the President of the United States.
The labors of soldiers, privates, corporals, or sergeants are not usually arduous, except in case of war or other like emergency. Their daily routine is no more monotonous than men's ordinary pursuits in civil life, with the one exception that they are always under the command of others; but this need not trouble them; for good soldiers there is responsibility enough, according to the position they hold. Their time is pretty well occupied; for there are generally two drills a day; care of their room and equipments; in the cavalry, grooming their horses twice a day; also guard duty for a night and day at least once a week. In the artillery there is now the study of the mechanism of modern heavy guns—their loading; their firing by mechanical means and by electricity. If we think of the emergency calls upon the soldier—for example, during riots, insurrections, and such like—we find the service of enough variety and interest for the average man. Besides the positions of corporal and sergeant which I have mentioned, many other places of higher pay are open to the soldier, such as trumpeter at $14 per month; wagoner, artificer, blacksmith, and farrier or saddler, at $15.
The Engineer and Ordnance Corps also offer higher pay, because of the knowledge required to build forts, bridges, and make ammunition and prepare projectiles. Privates of engineers receive $17; corporals, $20; sergeants, $34 per month. The Signal Corps sergeants have, besides their duties as experts in signalling, to be telegraph operators; they receive $45. To each company there is a first sergeant, who is the highest non-commissioned officer. He has direct charge of the men, and keeps all company records. He receives $25 per month. All pay in the army is increased from the third year of enlistment; i. e., the longer a man shall be a soldier, the more pay he will have a year.
In the regiment there are chief trumpeters, musicians, and saddlers, rated at $22 per month; chief musicians at $60—these are band-leaders. The sergeant-major, who has charge of regimental papers, quartermaster-sergeant, who has the care of all government property in the regiment, at $23; the sergeant-major and quartermaster-sergeant of engineers at $36.
Each post has an ordnance sergeant, commissary sergeant, and quartermaster sergeant at $34. Then in the Hospital Corps the stewards rate at $45. The hospital steward is really an apothecary. Acting hospital stewards are at $25, and attendants at $18.
These positions, except the musicians, are all filled from the ranks, according to fitness and ability. The highest goal to be reached by a soldier is a commission from the President as a second lieutenant in the army.
To obtain such a commission one must first become a corporal or sergeant, and have served three years. Then he has to prove himself a gentleman and good soldier to the satisfaction of his captain, whereupon by a mark on the sleeve he will be known as a candidate for a commission. He will have time allowed him to study, and he must prepare himself thoroughly in all common-school branches, including history, especially that of our own country. The first step is to receive the recommendation of his captain; next that of his colonel; and then of his department commander, when the commanding general at Washington will order him before a preliminary board of officers to convene near his station. This board will examine him more especially as to his knowledge of the duties of a soldier and officer. If he shall pass that satisfactorily he will be sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for final examination—a more thorough one in all branches, and before a board of four officers, two of whom must be surgeons. If successful in that and in a physical examination by the surgeons, his name will be sent to Washington with recommendation by the Examining Board that he be appointed a second lieutenant of artillery, cavalry, or infantry, according to the decision of the board, recommending him for that branch of the service for which he is best fitted. All appointees of late have gone either into the cavalry or infantry.
(Second Paper will appear in No. 843.)
