TIIE STAFF. Next to the training and equip ment of the line and the selection of competent leaders, the question of a general staff early received the attention of the Board of War. The value of the services of the foreign officers who as volunteers organized, drilled, and inspected the army and aided materially in achieving the suc cess of the American operations had deeply im pressed 'Washington, who upon the eve (1798) of his resuming the command of the army thus addressed the Secretary of War: "In forming an army, if a judicious choice is not made of the principal officers, and above all, of the general staff, it can never be rectified thereafter. The character then of the army would be lost in the superstructure. The reputation of the com mander-in-chief would sink with it and the coun try be involved in inextricable expense." The first general staff officers appointed by Washington upon assuming command at Cam bridge (1775) were an adjutant-general (Ho ratio Gates), a quartermaster-general (Thomas Mifflin), and a commissary-general (Joseph Trumbull). Under them from time to time dur ing the war were temporarily appointed officers of the line as assistants. As far back as 1777, the Continental Congress had "Resolved, * * that it is essential to the promotion of disci pline in the American army and to the reforma tion of the various abuses which prevail in the various departments that an appointment be made of inspectors general, agreeable to the prac tice of the best disciplined European armies." The first practical result of this art ion was shown in the selection of Baron Steuben, who may juAtly be considered the originator of much that is admirable in the staff system of the United States army. Although he had held the rank of lieutenant-general in the Prussian Army, he did not hesitate to serve at first as a volun teer, pending his appointment as inspector-gen eral with rank of major-general (May 5, 1778).
At the close of the war Baron Steuben re signed his commission, receiving the thanks of Congress "for the great zeal and abilities he has discovered in the discharge of the several duties of his office," together with the gift of a 'gold hilted sword.' Toward the close of his life Steu ben prepared a manual of "Regulations for the order and discipline of the troops of the United States," and for governing the militia (Ports mouth. N. H., 1794). still a model of its kind.
Although, from time to time during the Ameri can Revolution, suitable persons were appointed to perform staff duties, yet the existing staff de partments date their permanent establishment as follows: Adjutant-general's, March 3, 1813; inspecto•-general's, March 3, 1813; judge advo cate-general's (Bureau of Military Justice, 1S64), July 5, 1884; quartermaster's, March 28, 1812; subsistence, April 14, 1818; medical, April 14, 1S1S; pay, April 24, 1816; engineers, March 11, 1779 (present 'corps of'), March 3, 1S63; ord nance, May 14, 1S12: signal (corps), March 3, 1863. The Journal of the Continental Congress, Washington's orders, and the Revised Statutes teem with interesting historical and biographical data relating to these staff departments for which space here is denied. Out of the crude measures of a great crisis has grown a governmental sys tem which, if not perfect, has through its per sonnel accomplished wonders. The names of Steuben. Trumbull, Rush, Morgan, Bernard, Townsend, Meigs, Ingalls, :Myer, Fry, and Wes ton are those of a few of the men who, in spite of imperfections of organization, of official dry rot, and a false sense of security from perils that at times threaten the most favored nations, were equal to the emergency of war, and achieved great distinction in their several departments.