Excerpt from Report of a Preliminary Survey of the Camps of a Portion of the Volunteer Forces Near Washington: July 9, 1861 Where there is not a most incredible ignorance, incapacity, pr neglect on the part of the officers, the regiments are supplied with an over-abundance of the raw material of food, excellent of its kind. To all appearance, the Commissary Department is pursuing a generous, wise, and liberal course, dispensing with the usual forms and checks. Anticipating and overlooking the neglect of the volunteer Officers, and supplying a larger variety of food than is usually served to regulars, or than can be drawn for, as a right, under the army regulations. This very laxity, how ever, has its disadvantages, and that regiments should sometimes meet with considerable hardship from irregularity of supplies is a matter of course. It is, indeed, wonderful that such a large body of men should be so fully and regularly supplied as is our army, and the Commission need hardly concern itself with the exceptional instances. It is doubtful if any army of the same size ever fared as well as to substantial articles of food, for months together. The raw materials furnished are generally atrociously cooked and wickedly wasted. In consequence of waste, complaint is sometimes made of inadequate supplies, but this is remarkably rare, proving that with care the supply would in all cases be over-abundant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.