In November, 1858, revised regulations were issued, which, in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Military Education, made considerable changes in the examinations, and placed them on their present basis. The subjects of regimental and ordinary duties on which candidates were to be examined were more minutely detailed than heretofore; the examinations were made entirely professional, geography being excluded from the second examination, and at the same time it was announced that lieutenants would be required to show a sufficient knowledge of reconnaissance and of field fortification. But the most important change made at this time was in regard to the mode of conducting the examinations, which were no longer to be carried on regimentally, but by a board appointed by the commanding officer of the district, consisting (if possible) of three field officers,—with the additional provision that in no case in which it could possibly be avoided, an officer of the same regiment as the candidate was to be a member of the board. Cornets and ensigns were to be required to pass the examination before completing eight months’ service; and, in order to give additional stringency to the regulations, it was announced that the Commander-in-Chief would “not hesitate to promote (either regimentally or from other corps) officers who may have passed the required examination, in place of the idle and incompetent.”
REGULATIONS IN FORCE IN 1869.
Infantry and Cavalry.
159. Before officers are recommended for promotion to the rank of lieutenant, the commanding officer is to apply to the senior officer of the district or station for a board to examine and report upon their qualifications as under:
(a.) They must have a thorough knowledge, and must give an account, of the duties they have to perform as regimental orderly officers, as officers commanding guards, or as subaltern officers of guards under officers of superior rank.
(b.) They must have a thorough knowledge of, and be able to put a company through the various exercises and evolutions prescribed in the first two parts of the “Field Exercises of the Infantry;” and they must be acquainted with the rifle drill and practice, and the theoretical principles of musketry, as defined in the authorized book of instruction.
(c.) They must know exactly the place of all the company officers in every situation of the battalion, and be able to command a company in battalion exercise.
(d.) They must be acquainted with such parts of the Queen’s Regulations and Orders for the Army as relate to the duties, and conduct of a subaltern officer, and with the Mutiny Act and Articles of War, so far as is necessary for the performance of their duties as members of a court-martial.
(e.) They must be acquainted with the regulations of the army in regard to the pay and messing of the troops, the supply of clothing and necessaries, and all details regarding the weight of, and mode of carrying, the various articles of the soldier’s kit, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition.
160. In addition to such portions of the foregoing as may apply to the cavalry service, it is necessary in the case of cornets recommended for promotion to the rank of lieutenant,—