Part 413

Paymaster general two, one without arms.

Subordinate staff, at the discretion of the commanding officer.

The servants of platoon officers are always to accompany them on duty, and will be included in the same detail: no officer on furlough can be allowed more than one servant, and him without arms.

This allowance is a liberal one, and but too sensibly impairs the strength of the line. If gentlemen will mess, as in all other armies, it will be found abundant; otherwise they must employ domestics to be fed, paid, and clothed from their privy purses, as no further indulgence on the part of the public can be admitted.

The commanding officers of corps, posts, and detachments, will be held responsible for the strict observance of this order, and the violation by whomsoever permitted or committed, will be followed by an arrest, and the sentence of a general court-martial.

X. Four women per company complete, and in that ratio, are permitted to draw provisions and no more; washing the clothes of the company is to be performed by these women, at such price as the commanding officer of the regiment may establish; the officer commanding the company will be held responsible that it is fairly and impartially distributed, rating an officer as four men; mistresses or kept women are prohibited to the officers--the habit is a vicious one, it is repugnant to the rules of society, it is burthensome to the service, ever pregnant with discord, often afflictive to the meritorious soldier, always disgraceful, and frequently destructive to men of merit; the ceremony of marriage heretofore performed by the officers of the army, is also strictly forbid.

XI. Discharges for services fully performed to be given by the commandants of regiments, upon the certificate of the captain or commanding officer of the company in which the soldier served; but in all other cases by the commander in chief, or superior authority--retiring officers are not to take off soldiers with them as waiters or in any other capacity; a contrary practice has lost many valuable men to the service, and has perplexed the company accounts.

XII. The power of granting furloughs is in the commander in chief, on the recommendation of the colonel or officer immediately commanding the applicant, unless where the authority of the president is interposed.

XIII. Settling is restricted to the permission of the commander in chief, or officer commanding a separate department, but no permission is to be granted, except to citizens of the United States of known probity, and attachment to the government.

XIV. As we have no chaplain, the troops are to be inspected by companies every Sunday, and by regiments, battalions, or detachments, monthly; when returns of inspection are to be made out agreeably to the established form, these returns are to be regularly transmitted to the commander in chief, under the certificate of the commanding officers of companies, and the inspecting officer, who in the absence of the inspector, is to be appointed by the commanding officers of corps, posts, or detachments.

XV. The appointment of adjutants and quarter-masters of corps, hertofore in the commander in chief, appertains of right to the lieutenant colonels commandant, who have the power of removal from office. The regimental paymaster is elective by the officers of the regiment, under the orders of the colonel.

XVI. The appointment of non-commissioned officers, held of great importance in all services, because it is the root of all subordination and discipline, has been much neglected in ours. More circumspection on this interesting point is strictly enjoined, the captain or commanding officers of companies may recommend, but the appointment is in the colonel or commanding officer of the corps only.

XVII. Reformation being the end of all punishments, a soldier is never to be punished when drunk, but when found in that disgraceful situation, he is to be confined until he recover his senses, and is then to be punished.

XVIII. The residence of the regimental staff is at the head quarters of the regiment, except the surgeons mates, who are subject to be detached.

XIX. Stoppages of pay are to be rigorously enforced for lost arms, ammunition, accoutrements, and clothing, which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, it therefore becomes indispensible that company and regimental books, as well as those of the paymaster and quarter-master, should be kept with great exactness, and that councils of administration should sit quarterly whenever practicable, to scrutinize the regimental accounts.

XX. Garrisons of posts are not to be varied, except by the officer who establishes them, or his superior, but subordinate officers commanding posts in the department, are to report monthly to the head quarters of the regiment to which they belong.

XXI. Commanding officers of posts, under the grade of field officers, are to be relieved annually, and majors biennially, this rotation is founded in the principles of justice and sound policy.

XXII. The use of cards and dice are strictly prohibited in camp or quarters, except for the game of backgammon.

XXIII. In military institutions the force of example is incalculable, no officer, therefore, off duty, can be excused from parades, regimental or general, except in case of actual sickness or confinement; the officer who feigns sickness to elude duty, is a dishonor to his cloth, and will be held in infamy: and should any officer or non-commissioned officer, (be his command ever so diminutive,) betray such indolence and insensibility of professional obligation, as to omit one regular roll call, he shall be made an example to the army.

These orders are to be read to the troops, on the first day of the months of January, April, July, and October.

(EXTRACT OF GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, Loramiers, June 12, 1797.

To correct and extinguish the abuses which have crept into the service, is an herculean task, yet the commander in chief owes it to his own honor, to the honor of the army, and to his country, to effect a reform, and he calls upon his officers of every grade, for their co-operation in the arduous undertaking.

The spirit of cropping, which is almost every where to be seen, is repugnant to the principles of soldiership, destructive to the service, and disgraceful to those who indulge it; not less exceptionable is the practice of collecting and breeding live stock in large quantities.

This term refers to a practice which found its way into the army, in the western cantonments, who had employed the soldiery in raising crops of produce to the neglect of discipline.

The highest obligations of a soldier are briefly comprised to be ever ready to march, to fight, and to die, but the principles and condition of the former are at utter variance with this solemn text; gentlemen in commission must reflect, that it is to them the private looks for example; the national bounty is expended not to improve the agricultural arts, but to instruct men in the use of arms; the hoe and plough must be laid aside, and every moment from professional duty, devoted to form, instruct, and to train them in the glorious science of war. It is for this noble purpose gentlemen receive the pay and subsistence of their country, and their honor is pledged for the performance.

Planting and improving of corn fields is prohibited; garden, sufficient for the accommodation of officers and soldiers, are proper and necessary, and it is obligatory on all commanding officers to pay attention to this subject, the labor is however to be done by detail; the idea of an officer’s farming for profit is inadmissible, as it tends to a neglect of duty, a relaxation of discipline, abuse of the public service, and the disgrace of the profession.

In marching from one post of the continent to another, it is repugnant to every principle of economy and of justice, that the public should transport private provisions (other than groceries) or household furniture; if one officer is indulged in this way, another is equally intitled to indulgence, what a spectacle should we behold was every officer to move, with all the baggage and stock accumulated at the several posts, we should look more like a horde of Tartars than a regular military corps; while such practices prevail the public service will be embarrassed and delayed, and in effect exposed to destructive consequences, they are therefore prohibited.