the doing justice to the complainant; from which regimental court-martial either party may, if he think himself still aggrieved, appeal to a general court-martial; but if, upon a second hearing, the appeal shall appear to be vexatious and groundless, the person so appealing shall be punished at the discretion of the said general court-martial.

SECTION XII.

ART. 1. Whatsoever commissioned officer, storekeeper, or commissary, shall be convicted at a general court-martial of having sold, (without a proper order for that purpose,) embezzled, misapplied, or wilfully, or through neglect, suffered any of the provisions, forage, arms, clothing, ammunition, or other military stores belonging to the United States, to be spoiled or damaged, the said officer, storekeeper, or commissary so offending, shall, at his own charge, make good the loss or damage, shall moreover forfeit all his pay, and be dismissed from the service.

ART. 2. Whatsoever non-commissioned officer or soldier shall be convicted at a regimental court-martial, of having sold, or designedly, or through neglect, wasted the ammunition delivered out to him to be employed in the service of the United States, shall, if a non-commissioned officer, be reduced to a private sentinel, and shall besides suffer corporeal punishment in the same manner as a private sentinel so offending, at the discretion of a regimental court-martial.

ART. 3. Every non-commissioned officer or soldier who shall be convicted at a court-martial of having sold, lost, or spoiled, through neglect, his horse, arms, clothes or accoutrements, shall undergo such weekly stoppages (not exceeding the half of his pay) as a court-martial shall judge sufficient for repairing the loss or damage: and shall suffer imprisonment, or such other corporeal punishment as his crime shall deserve.

ART. 4. Every officer who shall be convicted at a court-martial, of having embezzled or misapplied any money with which he may have been entrusted for the payment of the men under his command, or for enlisting men into the service, if a commissioned officer, shall be cashiered and compelled to refund the money; if a non-commissioned officer, shall be reduced to serve in the ranks as a private soldier, be put under stoppages until the money be made good, and suffer such corporeal punishment, (not extending to life or limb) as the court-martial shall think fit.

ART. 5. Every captain of a troop or company is charged with the arms, accoutrements, ammunition, clothing, or other warlike stores belonging to the troop or company under his command, which he is to be accountable for to his colonel, in case of their being lost, spoiled, or damaged, not by unavoidable accidents, or on actual service.

SECTION XIII.

ART. 1. All non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who shall be found one mile from the camp, without leave, in writing, from their commanding officer, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted upon them by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 2. No officer or soldier shall lie out of his quarters, garrison, or camp, without leave from his superior officer, upon penalty of being punished according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a courtmartial.

ART. 3. Every non-commissioned officer and soldier shall retire to his quarters or tent at the beating of the retreat; in default of which he shall

be punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the commanding officer.

ART. 4. No officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, shall fail of repairing, at the time fixed, to the place of parade or exereise, or other rendezvous appointed by his commanding officer, if not prevented by sickness, or some other evident necessity; or shall go from the said place of rendezvous, or from his guard, without leave from his commanding officer, before he shall be regularly dismissed or relieved, on the penalty of being punished according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a courtmartial.

ART. 5. Whatever commissioned officer shall be found drunk on his guard, party, or other duty under arms, shall be cashiered for it; any noncommissioned officer or soldier so offending, shall suffer such corporeal punishment as shall be inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 6. Whatever sentinel shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 7. No soldier belonging to any regiment, troop, or company, shall hire another to do his duty for him, or be excused from duty, but in case of sickness, disability, or leave of absence; and every such soldier found guilty of hiring his duty, as also the party so hired to do another's duty, shall be punished at the next regimental court-martial.

ART. 8. And every non-commissioned officer conniving at such hiring of duty as aforesaid, shall be reduced for it; and every commissioned officer, knowing and allowing of such ill practices in the service, shall be punished by the judgment of a general court-martial.

ART. 9. Any person, belonging to the forces employed in the service of the United States, who, by discharging of fire-arms, drawing of swords, beating of drums, or by any other means whatsoever, shall occasion false alarms in camp, garrison, or quarters, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a general court-martial.

ART. 10. Any officer or soldier who shall, without urgent necessity, or without the leave of his superior officer, quit his platoon or division, shall be punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 11. No officer or soldier shall do violence to any person who brings provisions or other necessaries to the camp, garrison, or quarters of the forces of the United States employed in parts out of said states, on pain of death, or such other punishment as a court-martial shall direct.

ART. 12. Whatsoever officer or soldier shall misbehave himself before the enemy, or shamefully abandon any post committed to his charge, or shall speak words inducing others to do the like, shall suffer death.

ART. 13. Whatsoever officer or soldier shall misbehave himself before the enemy, and run away, or shamefully abandon any fort, post, or guard, which he or they shall be commanded to defend, or speak words inducing others to do the like; or who, after victory, shall quit his commanding officer, or post, to plunder and pillage; every such offender, being duly convicted thereof, shall be reputed a disobeyer of military orders; and shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as, by a general court-martial, shall be inflicted on him.

ART. 14. Any person, belonging to the forces of the United States, who shall cast away his arms and ammunition, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a general court-martial. ART. 15. Any person, belonging to the forces of the United States, who shall make known the watch-word to any person who is not entitled to

receive it according to the rules and discipline of war, or shall presume to give a parole or watch-word different from what he received, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a general court-martial.

ART. 16. All officers and soldiers are to behave themselves orderly in quarters, and on their march; and whosoever shall commit any waste or spoil, either in walks of trees, parks, warrens, fish ponds, houses or gardens, cornfields, enclosures or meadows, or shall maliciously destroy any property whatsoever belonging to the good people of the United States, unless by order of the then commander-in-chief of the forces of the said states, to annoy rebels or other enemies in arms against said states, he or they that shall be found guilty of offending herein, shall (besides such penalties as they are liable to by law,) be punished according to the nature and degree of the offence, by the judgment of a regimental or general court-martial.

ART. 17. Whosoever belonging to the forces of the United States, employed in foreign parts, shall force a safe-guard, shall suffer death.

ART. 18. Whosoever shall relieve the enemy with money, victuals, or ammunition, or shall knowingly harbor or protect an enemy, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted.

ART. 19. Whosoever shall be convicted of holding correspondence with, or giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted.

ART. 20. All public stores taken in the enemy's camp, towns, forts, or magazines, whether of artillery, ammunition, clothing, forage, or provisions, shall be secured for the service of the United States; for the neglect of which the commanders-in-chief are to be answerable.

ART. 21. If any officer or soldier shall leave his post or colors to go in search of plunder, he shall, upon being convicted thereof before a general court-martial, suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted.

ART. 22. If any commander of any garrison, fortress, or post, shall be compelled, by the officers or soldiers under his command, to give up to the enemy, or to abandon it, the commissioned officers, non-commissinoed officers, or soldiers, who shall be convicted of having so offended, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted upon them by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 23. All sutlers and retainers to a camp, and all persons whatsoever serving with the armies of the United States, in the field, though no enlisted soldier, are to be subject to orders, according to the rules and discipline of war.

ART. 24. Officers having brevets, or commissions of a prior date to those of the regiment in which they now serve, may take place in courts-martial and on detachments, when composed of different corps, according to the ranks given them in their brevets, or dates of their former commissions; but in the regiment, troop, or company, to which such brevet officers and those who have commissions of a prior date do belong, they shall do duty and take rank both on court-martial and on detachments which shall be composed only of their own corps, according to the commissions by which they are mustered in the said corps.

ART. 25. If upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps shall happen to join or do duty together, the eldest officer by commission there, on duty, or in quarters, shall command the whole, and give out orders for what is needful to the service; regard being always had to the several ranks of those corps, and the posts they usually occupy.

ART. 26. And in like manner also, if any regiments, troops, or detach

ments of horse or foot, shall happen to march with, or be encamped or quartered with any bodies or detachments of other troops in the service of the United States, the eldest officer, without respect to corps, shall take upon him the command of the whole, and give the necessary orders to the service.

SECTION XIV.1

ART. 1. A general court-martial in the United States shall not consist of less than thirteen commissioned officers, and the president of such courtmartial shall not be the commander-in-chief or commandant of the garrison where the offender shall be tried, nor be under the degree of a fieldofficer.

ART. 2. The members both of general and regimental courts-martial shall, when belonging to different corps, take the same rank which they hold in the army; but when courts-martial shall be composed of officers of one corps, they shall take their ranks according to the dates of the commissions, by which they are mustered in the said corps.

ART. 3. The judge-advocate general, or some person deputed by him, shall prosecute in the name of the United States of America; and in trials of offenders by general courts-martial, administer to each member the following oaths:

"You shall well and truly try and determine, according to your evidence, the matter now before you, between the United States of America, and the prisoners to be tried. So help you God."

"You A. B. do swear, that you will duly administer justice, according to the rules and articles for the better government of the forces of the United States of America, without partiality, favor or affection; and if any doubt shall arise, which is not explained by the said articles, according to your conscience, the best of your understanding, and the customs of war in like cases. And you do further swear, that you will not divulge the sentence of the court, until it shall be approved of by the general, or commander-in-chief; neither will you, upon any account, at any time whatever, disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of the court-martial, unless required to give evidence thereof as a witness by a court of justice, in a due course of law. So help you God."

And as soon as the said oath shall have been administered to the respective members, the president of the court shall administer to the judgeadvocate, or person officiating as such, an oath in the following words:

"You A. B. do swear, that you will not, upon any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of the court-martial, unless required to give evidence thereof, as a witness, by a court of justice, in a due course of law. So help you God."

ART. 4. All the members of a court-martial are to behave with calmness and decency; and in the giving of their votes, are to begin with the youngest in commission.

ART. 5. All persons who give evidence before a general court-martial, are to be examined upon oath; and no sentence of death shall be given against any offender by any general court-martial, unless two-thirds of the officers present shall concur therein.

ART. 6. All persons called to give evidence, in any cause, before a courtmartial, who shall refuse to give evidence, shall be punished for such

1 This section, and such articles as relate to the holding of courts-martial and confirmation of sentences, were repealed and supplied by resolutions of the 31st of May,

refusal, at the discretion of such court-martial: The oath to be administered in the following form, viz.:

66

'You swear 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. 7. No field officer shall be tried by any person under the degree of a captain; nor shall any proceedings or trials be carried on excepting between the hours of eight in the morning and of three in the afternoon, except in cases which require an immediate example.

ART. 8. No sentence of a general court-martial shall be put in execution, till after a report shall be made of the whole proceedings to Congress, or to the general or commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States, and their or his direction be signified thereupon.1

ART. 9. For the more equitable decision of disputes which may arise between officers and soldiers belonging to different corps, it is hereby directed, that the courts-martial shall be equally composed of officers belonging to the corps in which the parties in question do then serve; and that the presidents shall be taken by turns, beginning with that corps which shall be eldest in rank.

ART. 10. The commissioned officers of every regiment may, by the appointment of their colonel or commanding officer, hold regimental courtsmartial for the inquiring into such disputes, or criminal matters, as may come before them, and for the inflicting corporeal punishments for small offences, and shall give judgment by the majority of voices; but no sentence shall be executed till the commanding officer (not being a member of the court-martial) or the commandant of the garrison, shall have confirmed the same.

ART. 11. No regimental court-martial shall consist of less than five officers, excepting in cases where that number cannot conveniently be assembled, when three may be sufficient; who are likewise to determine upon the sentence by the majority of voices; which sentence is to be confirmed by the commanding officer of the regiment, not being a member of the court-martial.

ART. 12. Every officer commanding in any of the forts, barracks, or elsewhere, where the corps under his command consists of detachments from different regiments, or of independent companies, may assemble courts-martial for the trial of offenders in the same manner as if they were regimental, whose sentence is not to be executed until it shall be confirmed by the said commanding officer.

ART. 13. No commissioned officer shall be cashiered or dismissed from the service, excepting by an order from the Congress, or by the sentence of a general court-martial; but non-commissioned officers may be discharged as private soldiers, and, by the order of the colonel of the regiment, or by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, be reduced to private sentinels.

ART. 14. No person whatever shall use menacing words, signs, or gestures, in the presence of a court-martial then sitting, or shall cause any disorder or riot, so as to disturb their proceedings, on the penalty of being punished at the discretion of the said court-martial.

ART. 15. To the end that offenders may be brought to justice, it is hereby directed, that whenever any officer or soldier shall commit a crime deserving punishment, he shall, by his commanding officer, if an officer, be put in arrest; if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, be imprisoned till he

Repealed and supplied by resolution of 14th April, 1777.