onal
assistant quartermasters "shall, in addition to their pay in the line,
receive a sum not less than $10 nor more than $20 per month."

The ninth section of the act of the 5th July, 1838, provides "that the
President of the United States be authorized, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, to add to the Quartermaster's Department not
exceeding two assistant quartermasters-general with the rank of colonel,
two deputy quartermasters-general with the rank of lieutenant-colonel,
and eight assistant quartermasters with the rank of captain; that the
assistant quartermasters now in service shall have the same rank as is
provided by this act for those hereby authorized: ... _Provided_, That
all the appointments in the Quartermaster's Department shall be made
from the Army, ... and that promotions in said Department shall take
place as in regiments and corps."

These are believed to be the only laws now in force which provide for
the organization of the Quartermaster's Department, and they are here
cited with a view to a full and clear understanding of the question of
precedence of rank between certain officers of that Department.

Prior to the act of the 5th of July, 1838, last quoted, the assistant
quartermasters were selected from the several regiments of the line to
perform duty in the Quartermaster's Department. They were never
commissioned in the Department; they merely received letters of
appointment as assistant quartermasters, and were allowed the additional
pay provided by the act of the 2d March, 1821, and 16th May, 1826. They
held no rank in the Department separate from their rank in the line, and
were liable to be returned to their regiments according to the wants of
the service or at the pleasure of the President. In completing the
organization of the Department provided by the act of 5th July. 1838,
several officers were selected from regiments for appointment as
assistant quartermasters whose lineal rank was greater than that held by
the assistant quartermasters then doing duty in the Department, and on
the 7th of July, the list being nearly completed, it was submitted to
the Senate for confirmation. All the assistant quartermasters thus
submitted to the Senate were confirmed to take rank from the 7th of
July, and in the order they were nominated, which was according to their
seniority in the line and agreeably to what was conceived to be the
intention of the law. Had the opposite course been pur