Commissariat is a name for the organised system whereby armies are provided with food, forage, fuel, quarters, and all other necessaries except warlike stores. In feudal times, soldiers were mainly dependent for food on their lords; but they lived very much by plunder. During the wars of the Crusades, the commissariat was so utterly neglected that thousands died of starvation.
The first germ of the modern British commissariat appeared in the office of proviant-master in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Under Charles I., commissaries were stationed in the different counties. Marlborough's troops were supplied by contract; he received a percentage, and peculation was very common. After many changes during the 18th century, a commissary-general was appointed in 1793 to superintend all contracts for food and forage. The dire experience of the Crimean war showed how inadequate the small existing establishment was to bear the strain of a campaign. In 1858 and 1859 the commissariat was newly organised; and remained, until 1870, a War-office department, under a commissary-general-in-chief.
In 1870 it was merged with other supply departments in the great 'Control Department,' which, under the Surveyor-general of the Ordnance, performed all the civil administrative duties of the army, until its abolition in 1875. The 'Commissariat and Transport Department' was then formed, and administered by the Director of Supplies, an officer on the staff of the Surveyor-general at the War Office, the supply of warlike stores being placed under the Ordnance Store Department (q.v.). The reorganisation of the War Office in February 1888, while leaving the duties of these two departments unaltered, has placed them under the Quartermaster-general. In India this has always been the case so far as the commissariat is concerned, which is officered by appointments from the combatant branch. The present British staff consists of 2 commissaries-general ranking as major-general, 10 deputy-commissaries-general with honorary rank of colonel, 62 assistant and 111 deputy-assistant commissaries-general with honorary rank of major and captain respectively, 40 quartermasters (honorary lieutenants), 3 adjutants, 1 paymaster, and 2 riding-masters. Their pay varies from 9s. 6d. a day in the lowest ranks to £1500 a year in the highest. There are 37 companies, having each a peace establishment of 2 officers, 123 of other ranks, 63 horses, and 12 wagons.
The war establishment laid down in 1888 for a commissariat and transport company with an infantry brigade is 5 officers, 192 non-commissioned officers and men, and 234 horses, and if with the headquarters of a division of infantry, 7 officers, 157 of other ranks, and 184 horses. The establishment for an Army Corps (q.v.) in the field, with three days' rations for the men, and two days' forage for the horses, is 60 officers, 2494 non-commissioned officers and men, 2796 horses, and 438 carriages. The wagons of the Army Medical and Ordnance Store Departments are hored by the Transport Department. Camp equipment, fuel, forage, food, &c. are supplied by the commissariat, the actual cooking being done by the regimental cooks. Clothing is supplied by the government factory at Pinlico, and, like all other stores, brought to the army, if in the field, by the transport branch of this very important department.
The Indian commissariat is, as indicated above, a local department, varying in strength with the requirements of the moment. There is also a small local staff of 1 commissary, 3 deputies, and 1 assistant on the west coast of Africa.
In the United States the army commissariat is administered by a commissary-general of subsistence, having the rank of brigadier-general; five assistant commissary-generals, ranking as colonels and lieutenant-colonels; eight commissioners of subsistence, ranking as majors, and twelve as captains. Their salaries are from 5500 to 2000.