CHAPTER I
Evolutionof Military Veterinary Medicine
1775-1916
Military veterinary medicine began withthe origin of the U.S. Army and rather closely parallels thedevelopment of the profession of veterinary medicine in the United States.Between 14 June 1775 and 3 June 1916, or until congressional legislation createda commissioned officers' corps of veterinarians in the Army, much of the historyof military veterinary medicine must be gleaned from the histories of themounted combat arms and medical and supply services. These histories includereferences to veterinary affairs which in chronologic sequence present a fairlyclear-cut picture of the development of military veterinary service.
Cavalry, frequently known by other names,the combat arm formed in 1777, became the birthplace of military veterinarymedicine in 1792 (1). Congressional legislation of 1792 provided that each ofthe four troops of light dragoons (cavalry) would have one farrier to care forthe ailments of horses. The heritage of the Veterinary Corps officer isspecifically traced to horseshoers and farriers who acted as animal nursesin the "old, old Army." In fact, the horseshoe-shaped insigne of thefarrier was once carried into the design of the veterinarian's distinctiveinsigne which, for a few years before World War I, included the undersurface ofa shod horse's foot.
In 1798, the number of farriers hadincreased from 4 to a total of 10, and the original pay of $8 had been increasedto $10 per month. Cavalry and farriers were not a part of the Army from 1802 to1808, but in the latter year Congress provided for a regiment of cavalry forwhich eight farriers were authorized. Farriers were first included in horseartillery in 1812. Due to reduction in the horsed combat arms following the Warof 1812, the farrier disappeared from the military scene until 1833, when aregiment of cavalry was formed with a complement of 10 farriers. Ten additionalfarriers appeared when a second cavalry regiment was organized in 1836.
The1834 and 1835 editions of General Regulations for the Army described theannual report of the Inspector General as including a discussion of the"Veterinary Department of Cavalry," noted "* * * whether theVeterinary Surgeon is competent to the duties of his station. * * * whether thefarriers are properly instructed and expert in their business * * *." Thisis likely the first use of the term "veterinary surgeon" in officialArmy publications, but it is fairly probable that it may have been usedinterchangeably with "farrier" as it has not been established thatthere were any veterinarians in the Army at that time. Pay tables did not lista veterinary surgeon.
2
It appears that the Quartermaster'sDepartment may have contemplated the hiring of civilian veterinarians asearly as 1837,but there is no evidence ofcongressional appropriation for such purpose prior to the appropriation act forthe fiscal year 1849(2). That few veterinarians were hiredmight be evidenced by the fact that, during the fiscal year that marked thebeginning of the Civil War, the Quartermaster's Department expended only $168.50for services of civilianveterinarians.
During the war with Mexico and through theperiod of Indian fighting before the Civil War, the number of farriers variedwith the number of mounted units authorized, but their general status remainedmore or less unchanged. With the beginning of the Civil War, a veterinarysergeant was authorized for each of the three battalions in a cavalry regiment.It may be presumed that he had the duty of supervising farriers with companiesof the battalion. He received $17per month and ranked with a sergeantof cavalry. This grade of veterinary sergeant was dropped in 1862,but under the act of 3 March 1863each regiment of cavalry wasauthorized a regimental veterinary surgeon with the rank of regimentalsergeant major and pay of $75per month (3, 4). Appointments were madeby the Secretary of War following selection by the chief of the Cavalry Bureauupon nomination by regimental commanders. The increased grade and pay waslikely provided as a result of the Army's terrific animal loss due to diseaseand in an effort to obtain better qualified personnel to provide veterinaryservice. There were apparently no fixed standards of education and experience,and it seems probable that not more than a very few graduate veterinariansapplied for or received appointment. During the Civil War, the Quartermaster'sDepartment spent $93,666.47for the hire of civilianveterinarians.
After the Civil War, the total of sixRegular Army cavalry regiments was augmented by four additional regiments.Unlike each of the six older regiments which were authorized one veterinarysurgeon, each of the newly formed regiments was authorized two veterinarysurgeons, one of whom was designated "Senior Veterinary Surgeon" andreceived pay of $100 per month. This disparity in personnel authorizationpersisted until 1899. One of the important milestones in the improvement ofmilitary veterinary service was the requirement set forth in Army GeneralOrders of 1879and first included in ArmyRegulations of 1881that thereafter all appointed asveterinary surgeons with Cavalry were to be graduates of established andreputable veterinary schools or colleges. The regulations also provided that theveterinary surgeons would have rank and precedence comparable to those of asergeant major. The 1881appropriation act provided for 14veterinary surgeons with Cavalry, but it appears that there were actually 12 onduty (5). The Quartermaster's Department was at that time employing onefull-time veterinarian for the care of animals, and in the later 1880'sseveral more were employed for thispurpose.
3
At the beginning of the Spanish-AmericanWar, the Cavalry was authorized 14 veterinary surgeons (4 seniors and 6juniors) for its 10 regiments (6). Artillery reentered the evolution of the ArmyVeterinary Service where each battery of field artillery was authorized aveterinary sergeant; previously, in 1812,horsed artillery had farriers andafter 1861was provided with artificers who verylikely performed the duties of farriers.
The end of the investigation of the "embalmed meats" of the Spanish?American War marked the start of the Army's veterinary food inspection service. In July 1901, a veterinarian was transferred from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and appointed Meat Inspector, Subsistence Department at Large, U.S. Army for the purpose of making receipt inspections of meats in addition to inspections made prior to delivery by veterinary inspectors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (7). By 1906, the number of Army subsistence veterinary inspectors had been increased to six, and War Department Orders had directed post commanders to use veterinarians to conduct ante mortem and post mortem inspections of beef purchased locally.1
Congressional legislation in 1899,after the beginning of the PhilippineInsurrection, greatly improved the lot of Army veterinarians with Cavalry. Itprovided that every regiment of cavalry would be authorized two veterinarians,one to have the pay and allowances (not the rank) of a second lieutenant ofCavalry and the other the pay of $75 per month and the allowances of a sergeantmajor. Later, the senior veterinarian was accorded a rank between that of acadet and second lieutenant, the highest rank achieved by veterinarians prior tothe authorization of a corps of commissioned officers in 1916.
The so-called Army Reorganization Act of 1901 made further improvement in the status of the Army veterinarian by providing that all veterinarians (two for each regiment of cavalry and one for each regiment of artillery) would have the pay and allowances of a second lieutenant. The number of such veterinarians was 42 (8).2 The act also provided that veterinarians employed as civilians by the Quartermaster should receive pay of $100 per month. The Quartermaster's Department became the Army's largest user of veterinarians, and at one time it had more than 60 veterinarians employed as civilians in the Philippine Islands (9). The pay of veterinarians employed as civilians (contract veterinarians) remained at the $1,200 per year level in spite of repeated efforts of The Quartermaster General to obtain a pay status more nearly comparable with that of Army veterinarians with Cavalry and Field Artillery (10). The pay of veterinarians of Cavalry and Field Artillery was increased in 1908 from the previous $1,500 to $1,700
1Dr.C. W. Johnsonwas the original appointee, followed by Dr. W.H.McKinney for duty in Kansas City, Mo. Drs. G. A. Lytle, D. A. Hughes, and C. J.Loveberry, in 1906, were stationed at Chicago, Ill., Omaha, Nebr., and SanFrancisco, Calif., respectively. The death of Johnson (in 1911) and of McKinney(in 1914) created position vacancies which were filled by the appointments ofDrs. T. H. Jones and S. R. Ingram.
2TheCongressional appropriations act of 2 March 1901 provided for the pay of 42veterinarians, including the 12 in Artillery.
4
per year (payof second lieutenant, mounted). Retirement of veterinarians with Cavalry andField Artillery was first authorized under the provisions of the appropriationact of 1911.
During the 124 years between 1792, when the farrier was first authorized, and 1916, when the commissioned Veterinary Corps was authorized, the military veterinary service moved forward nearly in pace with the progress being made by veterinary medicine in the United States at large. The progressive improvement in military veterinary service was due to (1) increasing appreciation by the military and legislative branches of the real need for such service, (2) the inherent desire of nearly every individual veterinarian in the service to provide better service and to improve his personal status, and (3) the unceasing effort of civilian veterinarians through the American Veterinary Medical Association to improve military veterinary service and the status of their professional brothers in the service of their country. Although much improvement in veterinary service had been effected, there was still much room for improvement. The service was being provided by separate groups of veterinarians-two fully militarized groups, the veterinarians with Cavalry and Field Artillery, and two civilian employee groups, the meat inspection and animal service veterinarians working for The Quartermaster General. Proper coordination in and between groups was lacking, pay rates were not uniform, and the overall service did not have an Army-wide organization to exercise administrative, functional, and policy control. These shortcomings were overcome when the National Defense Act of 1916 made provision for a Veterinary Corps of commissioned officers and wisely made the corps a component of the Medical Department.
References
1. Robinett, P.M.: Arm of Speed and Violence. Army Information Digest 5: 38-48, August 1950.
2. Letter, Capt. G. H. Grosmane, Cincinnati, Ohio, to Acting Quartermaster General, 12 Sept. 1837.
3. General Orders No. 73, 24 Mar. 1863.
4. General Orders No. 111, 29 Apr. 1863.
5. General Orders No. 27, 1881.
6. General Orders No. 9, 1898.
7. Circular Letter No. 3, Office of the Commissary General, 7 July 1901.
8. General Orders No. 29, 1901.
9. Annual Report, The Surgeon General, 1918, p. 415.
10. Annual Report, The Quartermaster General, 1910, p. 56.
