Part 100

“You swear or affirm (as the case may be) the evidence you shall give in the cause now in hearing, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God.”

Art. 74. On the trials of cases not capital, before courts martial, the deposition of witnesses not in the line or staff of the army, may be taken before some justice of the peace, and read in evidence; provided, the prosecutor and person accused are present at the taking the same, or are duly notified thereof.

Art. 75. No officer shall be tried but by a general court martial, nor by officers of interior rank, if it can be avoided. Nor shall any proceedings or trials be carried on excepting between the hours of eight in the morning, and three in the afternoon, excepting in cases, which, in the opinion of the officer appointing the court martial, require immediate example.

Art. 76. No person whatsoever shall use any menacing words, signs, or gestures, in presence of a court martial, or shall cause any disorder or riot, or disturb their proceedings, on the penalty of being punished at the discretion of the said court martial.

Art. 77. Whenever any officer shall be charged with a crime, he shall be arrested and confined in his barracks, quarters, or tents, and deprived of his sword, by the commanding officer. And any officer who shall leave his confinement before he shall be set at liberty by his commanding officer, or by a superior officer, shall be cashiered.

Art. 78. Non-commissioned officers and soldiers, charged with crimes, shall be confined until tried by a court martial, or released by proper authority.

Art. 79. No officer or soldier who shall be put in arrest, shall continue in confinement more than eight days, or until such time as a court martial can be assembled.

Art. 80. No officer commanding a guard, or provost martial, shall refuse to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge by an officer belonging to the forces of the United States; provided the officer committing, shall, at the same time, deliver an account in writing, signed by himself, of the crime with which the said prisoner is charged.

Art. 81. No officer commanding a guard, or provost martial, shall presume to release any person committed to his charge, without proper authority for so doing, nor shall he suffer any person to escape, on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a court martial.

Art 82. Every officer or provost marshal, to whose charge prisoners shall be committed, shall within twenty-four hours after such commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his guard, make report in writing, to the commanding officer, of their names, their crimes, and the names of the officers who committed them, on the penalty of being punished for disobedience or neglect, at the discretion of a court martial.

Art. 83. Any commissoned officer convicted before a general court martial of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, shall be dismissed the service.

Art. 84. In cases where a court martial may think it proper to sentence a commissioned officer to be suspended from command, they shall have power also to suspend his pay and emoluments from the same time, according to the nature and heinousness of the offence.

Art. 85. In all cases where a commissioned officer is cashiered for cowardice or fraud, it shall be added in the sentence, that the crime, name, and place of abode, and punishment of the delinquent, be published in the newspapers, in and about the camp, and of a particular state from which the offender came, or where he usually resides, after which it shall be deemed scandalous for an officer to associate with him.

Art. 86. The commanding officer of any post or detachment, in which there shall not be a number of officers adequate to form a general court martial, shall, in cases which require the cognizance of such a court, report to the commanding officer of the department, who shall order a court to be assembled at the nearest post or detachment, and the party accused, with necessary witnesses, to be transported to the place where the said court shall be assembled.

Art. 87. No person shall be sentenced to suffer death but by the concurrence of two thirds of a general court martial, nor except in the cases herein expressly mentioned; nor shall more than fifty lashes be inflicted on any offender, at the discretion of a court martial, and no officer, non-commissioned officer, soldier, or follower of the army, shall be tried a second time for the same offence.

Art. 88. No person shall be liable to be tried and punished by a general court martial for any offence which shall appear to have been committed more than two years before the issuing of the order for such trial, unless the person by reason of having absented himself, or some other manifest impediment, shall not have been amenable to justice within that period.

Art. 89. Every officer authorised to order a general court martial, shall have power to pardon or mitigate any punishment ordered by such court, except the sentence of death, or of cashiering an officer; which in the cases where he has authority (by article 65) to carry them into execution, he may suspend until the pleasure of the President of the United States can be known; which suspension, together with copies of the proceedings of the court martial, the said officer shall immediately transmit to the President for his determination. And the colonel or commanding officer of the regiment or garrison, where any regimental or garrison court martial shall be held, may pardon or mitigate any punishment ordered by such court to be inflicted.

Art. 90. Every judge advocate, or person officiating as such, at any general court martial, shall transmit, with as much expedition as the opportunity of time and distance of place can admit, the original proceedings and sentence of such court martial, to the secretary of war, which said original proceedings and sentence shall be carefully kept and preserved in the office of the said secretary, to the end that the persons entitled thereto may be enabled, upon application to the said office, to obtain copies thereof.

The party tried by any general court martial, shall, upon demand thereof made by himself, or by any person, or persons in his behalf, be entitled to a copy of the sentence and proceedings of such court martial.

The following section is extracted from the laws of Congress of 1808.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the said corps, shall be governed by the rules and articles of war, which have been established by the United States in Congress assembled, or by such rules and articles as may be hereafter, by law established; Provided nevertheless, That the sentence of general courts martial, extending to the loss of life, the dismission of a commissioned officer, or which shall respect the general officer, shall, with the whole of the proceedings of such cases, respectively, be laid before the President of the United States, who is hereby authorised to direct the same to be carried into execution, or otherwise, as he shall judge proper.

COURT of inquiry, an assemblage of officers who are empowered to inquire into the conduct of an officer, or to see whether there is ground for a court-martial, &c. Courts of inquiry cannot award punishment, but must report to the officer by whose order they were assembled. Courts of inquiry are also appointed to examine into the quality and distribution of military stores. See ARTICLES OF WAR, §. 91, and 92.

A regimental COURT-MARTIAL cannot sentence to the loss of life or limb. The colonel or commanding officer approves the sentence of a regimental court-martial.

A garrison COURT-MARTIAL resembles a regimental one in as much as the members are not sworn, and only differs by its being composed of officers of different regiments. The governor, or other commanding officer of the garrison, approves the sentence.

COURTINE, Fr. See CURTAIN.

COUSSINET à mousquetaire, Fr. a bag formerly worn by a French soldier on his left side beneath the cross belt. It hung upon hooks near the but of his musquet. It likewise signifies a wedge used to support the mortar in its frame.

COUTELAS, Fr. See CUTLASS.

COUVERT, Fr. See COVER.