Staff Officers and the Regular Army

[2ndNHDOC]

For those Regular researchers out there I am curious about how the Staff (ie Medical, Pay, Quatermaster) officers specifically Medical types were organized both during and before the war. I am trying to find info on the Surgeon for the 3rd Infantry Regiment. According to posted references on www.usregulars.com as well as searches on geneology sites it appears to me that staff personnel for the standing army were in a seperate "Regiments" and from there what I gather they were farmed out to garrisons and units as needed without offically being assigned to a particular Regular Army regiment. It appears from the individual records this method stayed the same. Now each State regiment had Surgeons appointed to them and they were directly commissioned for that regiment. Any help would be most appreciated.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: Staff Officers and the Regular Army

Line officers were assigned to regiments; however when they were reassigned to the Army staff, they belonged to that particular Department of the Army (e.g., the Quartermaster Department or the Ordnance Department) under the Quartermaster General, or the Chief of Ordnance as it may have been.

Kautz's Customs of Service for Officers of the Army is a good read for these sorts of questions, and is on-line if you look hard enough...

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Staff Officers and the Regular Army

If I've got this straight, each office of the War Department had a permanent military staff, officers of which could be assigned to various subordinate commands, such as armies, corps, and divisions. In addition, similar functions at lesser commands could be filled by details of line officers.

An idea of the amount of movement going on can be obtained by looking through the General Orders of the WD for the first few years of the war:

http://books.google.com/books?id=vGUkOckEzgsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22general+orders+of+the+war+department%22&ei=qXlER8yEHYfe7QLF3MmEBw

You can get a better idea of how this worked for the Medical Department by looking through the Army Surgeon's Manual, also available on-line:

http://books.google.com/books?id=W3mAwPB9ihIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22the+army+surgeon%27s+manual%22&ei=5XpER87lOYGW7AKVuJH0CQ

Hope this helps.

[2ndNHDOC]

Re: Staff Officers and the Regular Army

Thanks form the resources. the search has really peaked my interest not just for medical Staff but all of them. One I had never heard of prior to this search was the Subsistence Department. I always believed this to be a function of the Quatermaster department. Learn something new every day. Which is the best part of this hobby.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Staff Officers and the Regular Army

Brian,

Although written from the CS point of view, the book Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons is an incredibly good read, and will provide a heck of a lot of insight into what the different staff jobs were about, not only in the field, but stretching back to the depot level, as well.