Tag: Quartermaster Department (US)

Wikipedia says: The United States Army Quartermaster Corps, formerly the Quartermaster Department, is a Sustainment, formerly combat service support (CSS), branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Transportation Corps and the Ordnance Corps.

The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps mission is to support the development, production, acquisition, and sustainment of general supply, Mortuary Affairs, subsistences, petroleum and water, material and distribution management during peace and war to provide combat power to the U.S. Army. The officer in charge of the branch for doctrine, training, and professional development purposes is the Quartermaster General.

The Quartermaster Corps is the U.S. Army’s oldest logistics branch, established 16 June 1775. On that date, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution providing for “one Quartermaster General of the grand army and a deputy, under him, for the separate army”.

In 1802 under President Thomas Jefferson the size of the US Army was reduced with the Quartermaster Department being disbanded. In its place the nation was divided into three departments, each with its own agent and subordinates who were responsible for quartermaster functions within each Department The Quartermaster Corps was re-established in 1812.

From 1775 to 1912, this organization was known as the Quartermaster Department.