Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PRIZE ESSAY. The Art Of Supplying Armies In The Field As ExemPlified During The Civil War. By Captain Henry G. Sharpe, Subsistence Department. From the Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States, Jan'y, 1396. The art of supplying armies in the field comprises all those means essential to procure the supplies, to store them in depots located at advantageous points, and to transport them to the troops. The methods of operating the lines of communication so as to expedite the transportation of supplies, materials, and. troops passing along them, either going to the front or moving to the rear, are also parts of the art of supplying troops in the field. In war a well organized, armed, and trained force should be always ready to move in any direction and prepared to give battle upon any locality that may have been selected by the commanding general, or to oppose the advance or check a flank movement of the enemy. Mobility is thus a factor of great consequence, and it follows that an army can only be endowed with equipment and supplies up to such an extent as will not impede or hinder this important factor. To make the best possible use of a force in the field it must therefore be provided with efficient and sufficient means of transport and with a practical and well-arranged system of supply. To provide for the wants of the troops every army hasa number of administrative departments charged with the procuration, custody, and distribution of certain description of supplies which are essential to keep the troops in health and strength, and which provide them at all times with everything that is indispensable for the furtherance of the plan of the campaign. The supply departments in our army are the Quartermaster, Subsistence, Ordnance, Pay, and Med...