The Radical Republicans believed that increasing their influence within the U.S. Army was a further means of controlling the course of Reconstruction. Many of the military commanders then on duty in the South were sympathetic to Radical aims; Congress wanted to make certain that the officers would remain in their positions of power. An army appropriations measure in 1867 included a provision added by the Radicals, which required the president to issue military orders through a commanding general, a figure who could be removed only by Senate action.