Ordnance Sergeant - U.S. Army Ordnance Sergeant

U.S. Army Ordnance Sergeant

Issuance of General Orders, No. 24., War Department, dated April 16, 1862: "V. Every commanding officer of a regiment will select from the non-commissioned officers of the regiment the one best qualified for the duty of ordnance sergeant, and will appoint him acting ordnance sergeant. Such non-commissioned officer will have charge of all the surplus ordnance stores of the regiment, and will make returns of the same to the Ordnance Bureau. The arms and accouterments of the sick and disabled of the regiment will be turned over to and be accounted for by him. He will exercise supervision over the arms and ammunition in the hands of the men, and report any waste or damage to the division ordnance officer through the colonel of the regiment. All such appointments will be reported through the general headquarters to the Chief of the Ordnance Bureau." In other words, ordnance sergeants from that point on appeared on the staffs of Union infantry regiments and not just at posts. Further explanation came with the publication of the War Department's General Orders No. 46, dated July 1, 1862: "3. Ordnance-sergeants of regiments will be subject to and make reports to the brigade ordnance officers. "4. Since the act of April 19, 1862, providing an ordnance-sergeant to each regiment, the acting appointees, authorized under General Orders, No. 24, current series, and made by colonels of regiments, will be reported for appointment under the above act in cases where such report has not been made to the Ordnance Bureau. Hereafter the appointment will be made to regiments as to military posts, by the Secretary of War, and upon the recommendation of colonels of regiments, through the Ordnance Bureau, the non-commissioned officers recommended being at once placed upon duty in anticipation of the appointment."