Part 134

REGULARS, (_Troupes Régulieres_, _Fr._) Those troops whose conditions of enrollment are not limited to time or place, in contradistinction to fencibles, militia, or volunteer corps; called also _the line_.

_To_ REGULATE, to adjust by rule or method.

REGULATING _Battalion_. See PARALLELISM OF A MARCH.

REGULATION, the act of regulating, or adjusting by rule or method.

REGULATION, a term generally used in the British army to signify the regulated price at which any commission, or saleable warrant is permitted to be disposed of. These prices have been fixed by the king. For particulars see Military Finance, page 160.

REGULATIONS, _for the American army_.

There is no coherent or consistent system of regulations in existence for the military establishment of the United States. The economy of military arrangement is as essential as the discipline of the field, to assure the effects of military operations. There should be a well digested system of regulations, and upon that system should be engrafted a staff, susceptible of adaptation to the peace or the war establishment, to the smallest or the largest force. The French have derived the greatest advantage from their regulations, which have been formed by a well digested body of principles adapted to all circumstances, and the enforcement and execution of which is always distinctly appropriated to the proper officers of the staff. At present the regulations of the United States army is confined to a few general orders from the war department, on detached points of service; and of occasional orders of the commander in chief, issued upon some exigency, at remote periods; and adopted into permanent use. In many instances these regulations have been altered by the war office, in others the circumstances which gave rise to them have ceased, and the regulations become obsolete or inappropriate. In 1810, an attempt was made, by the establishment of a quarter-master general’s office, to commence something like a system; should this be accomplished it may be beneficial, though the want of information in the duties of a staff, particularly if those heretofore arranged under the quarter-master general’s department alone are to be adopted, that it is to be feared the system may remain defective, should the old English model, now exploded by the British themselves, be kept in view instead of the more enlarged system introduced in modern wars. The treatise on the staff by _Grimoard_, contains the best body of regulations extant. It has been translated, and will form a part of the American Military Library.

The following are among the principal regulations in force at the beginning of the year 1810.

(GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _Fort Washington, May 22, ’97_

To prevent the necessity of repetition, to establish principle, without which there can be no permanent order, to define the rights of individuals, to exclude caprice, to promote economy, and precision, to disseminate an uniformity of duty and of service throughout the army, and to impress the necessary ideas of subordination and discipline, the following regulations have been digested, and must be duly respected by all ranks.

I. Precedence in command is attached to seniority of corps, and the oldest commission subject to such deviations as the commander in chief may deem essential to the national weal, and the point of honor is determined by the following gradation.

1. Guard of the president.

2. The attack.

3. Reconnoitring parties, and corps of observations.

4. Foraging before the enemy.

5. Posts in the enemy’s country.

6. National barriers.

7. Detachments and out posts.

8. Guard of the trenches.

9. Van guards to the front.

10. Rear guards in retreat.

11. General courts-martial.

12. Guard of the commander in chief.

13. Guards of camp or garrison taken from the line.

14. All other guards mounted from the grand parade.

15. Guards of general officers, and the staff according to rank.

16. Pickets.

17. General fatigues.

18. Regimental police.

Should a tour of service occur while an officer is on any subordinate duty, he shall be relieved, but the tour on which he was engaged shall pass to his credit. If an officer’s tour for general court-martial, picket, or fatigue, occurs while he is on any other duty from the grand parade, he shall not be relieved, but is to stand for the next tour.

II. In all services by detachment, the corps are to furnish according to their strength, the longest off the first on; but in all cases of duty and of service where it may be found practicable, the troops are to operate by companies, battalions, or regiments.

III. Marching off the grand parade, or swearing in on general court-martial, is to pass for a tour of duty.

IV. Return detachments not to be excused from duty more than two days.

V. Police in conformity to the regulations of Baron de Stuben.

VI. Fatigues, general or particular, to be regulated by detail, and duty of every kind to be apportioned impartially.

A soldier, by voluntary compact, becomes the servant of the state, but not the slave of any individual. Extra men are never to be drawn from the ranks, but by permission of the commanding officer of a district, department, or regiment; and when employed in the service of officers, they are to be paid one third of a dollar per day, by the individual for whom they work. To abstract a soldier from his professional duties, and to subject him to the orders of persons not attached to the army, or to impose upon him menial laborious services, is an abuse of authority, a breach of contract, and a deep injury to the service; because it authorizes negligence in the soldier, and in effect destroys his arms and clothes. This practice is therefore positively prohibited.

VII. The annual clothing should be issued in the following manner.

_In the Southern States._

On the first day of December, woollen overalls and vests, two shirts, two pair shoes, and two pair socks.

On the first day of April, the residue.

_In the middle and Eastern States._

On the first day of November, woollen overalls and vests, two shirts, two pair shoes, and two pair socks.

On the first day of May, the residue.

Where circumstances will permit, it is to be drawn by the paymasters of corps, under the orders of the commanding officers, upon returns certified by the captains, or officers commanding companies, who are to receive it, and are to be held responsible for the distribution; extraordinary arrangements will be applied to extraordinary cases.

VIII. Company books and papers belong to the company, and are never to be separated from it, therefore whenever an officer is taken from his company, by promotion, transfer, or leave of absence, he is to deposit all the books and papers belonging to it, with the officer next of rank, taking duplicate receipts for the same, one of which is to be lodged with the paymaster of his corps; and whenever a man is transferred or ordered upon distant service, the commanding officer of the company from which he is taken, will be held responsible, that the date of his inlistment and a state of his accounts, as to pay, clothing, arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, be transmitted to the commanding officer of the corps, garrison, or detachment, which he is to join: certificates of provision are always to accompany individual soldiers and non-commissioned officers commands, from post to post.

IX. Servants to be taken by voluntary consent from the regiment, corps, or detachment, to which the officer served may belong, in the following proportions, viz.

A lieutenant colonel commandant on duty, three, one without arms.

Major on duty, two, one without arms.

Captain commanding a post or battalion, two, one without arms.

Captain on ordinary duty, one with arms.

Subaltern on duty, one with arms.

Surgeon on duty, two do.

Surgeon’s mate, one do.

Quarter-master general with the army, two, one without arms.

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,[16] 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.

[16] 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.

(EXTRACT OF GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _South West Point, September 1, 1801._

Besides the rolls of muster directed to be furnished to the pay department, one roll of each company or detachment of the army, and of the regimental staff for the months of June and December annually, are to be transmuted to the inspector of the army, at the city of Washington, on the first of January, and the first day of July following such musters, in the same manner that inspection and other returns are directed to be transmitted to him by the order of the 30th of November last; for the strict observance of which all commanding officers will be held responsible.

(GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _Washington, July 9, 1804._

The opinion having prevailed that an officer may throw up his commission and abandon the service at his discretion, the general considers it his duty to correct a delusion so pregnant with mischief to the public interest, and so subversive of every principle of subordination and discipline; it is therefore to be clearly understood that no officer, bearing a commission in the United States, has the power to resign the same, or quit the service without the president’s permission, or that of some subordinate duly authorized, and all offences against this order are to be punished with rigor.

(EXTRACT OF GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _Natchitoches, Sept. 24, 1806._

To recover lost ground, and to revive the languishing principle of subordination, it is essential this little corps should recollect the rights and attributes of rank and commission; agreeably, therefore, to a standing rule, which can never be dispensed with, without prejudice to the service.

The general can hold no communication on a professional topic, except in cases of public or personal grievances but through the commandant of the post; or commanding officers of corps, nor can these gentlemen receive any similar application from their subalterns, but through their respective captains.

(EXTRACT OF GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _New Orleans, January 22, 1807._

It is deemed unnecessary to muster the troops every month, since it rarely happens that a payment is made for so short a period: the general therefore directs that in future the several companies be mustered on the last day of February, April, June, August, October, and December, and that each muster, comprise the casualties of two months.

(EXTRACT OF GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _New Orleans, March 31, 1807._

The following regulations are to be considered of standing import, and are to be punctually observed until revoked.

All commanding officers are in person to command the daily parades of their respective garrisons, unless prevented by indisposition.

The troops are to be exercised once a week in battalion, and by companies twice a week when the weather may permit, without prejudice to the arms or the health of the men.

Whenever a superior officer shall visit a post or garrison, it is the duty of the commanding officer immediately to wait upon him, and make a tender of the keys, returns, reports, regulations, and instructions relative to the said post or garrison, and receive his orders.

Quarter guards are not permitted in garrison, nor are guards of quarters allowed, except to the commanding officer, and those who are entitled to them by established regulation.

The guards are invariably to be exercised by the officer of the day, when the weather may permit, before they are marched off the grand parade for their posts.

Awkward recruits are to be drilled daily until perfected in the elements of their profession.

(GENERAL ORDERS.)

HEAD QUARTERS, _New Orleans, April 15, 1807_

In all cases where men are discharged, the full complement of clothing to which they are intitled by law, is to be paid up out of the company stock.

_Inspector’s Office_, _Washington, January 21, 1810._

The foregoing are true copies from the orderly books in this office.

A. Y. NICOLL, _Adjutant and Inspector_.

BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR.

REGULATIONS _to be observed in the allowances for barracks or quarters to the officers of the army, and in the delivery and distribution of fuel and straw to the garrisons on the sea coast and recruiting parties._

BARRACKS OR QUARTERS.

To the commanding general, for himself, four rooms and a kitchen.

To his aid, one room.

To the quarter-master general, three rooms and a kitchen, and two rooms for offices and clerks.

To each field officer, two rooms.

To the inspector of the army, one room in addition to his allowance as a field officer.

To each captain, one room.

To each of the regimental staff, one room.

To a field officer, or a captain, when commanding a separate post, in addition, a kitchen.

To two subalterns, one room.

To every mess of eight officers, one room and a kitchen.

FUEL.

_From the first day of October to the first day of April, in each year._

To the commanding general, two cords and one half of wood per month.

To the quarter-master general, two cords per month.

To the inspector of the army, two cords per month.

To each field officer, one and an half cord per month.

To every commanding officer of a garrison, one and an half cord per month.

To every officer commanding a recruiting party, one cord per month.

To every other commissioned officer, one cord per month.

To every room occupied as barracks by eight non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, one cord per month.

To a garrison barrack guard, half a cord per month.

To officers and soldiers half of the aforesaid allowances of fuel from the first day of April until the first day of October in every year, but none for offices.

To the sick in hospital, the allowance of wood is to be regulated by the surgeon.

The commanding general, under special circumstances, may by orders in writing, enlarge or diminish the foregoing allowances of fuel, and may by the like orders, direct or withhold allowances of fuel or straw at such other posts as he may judge expedient, in cases not provided for by any special regulation.

No compensation in money to be made in lieu of allowances of fuel, nor is any compensation to be received by or paid to officers, in lieu of quarters or barracks.

STRAW.

1. One truss of straw weighing thirty six pounds, is allowed for each palliass for two men. At the expiration of sixteen days, each palliass is to be refreshed with eight pounds. At the expiration of thirty two days, the whole straw is to be removed, and a fresh bedding of one truss to be furnished, and so on, every succeeding period of sixteen and thirty two days.

2. The same quantity of straw is allowed for servants or batmen not soldiers, and for washer-women attached to each company in the proportion of one washer-woman to every seventeen non-commissioned officers and privates.

3. The straw is to be changed for the sick in the hospital as often as may be deemed necessary: this necessity to be determined by the surgeon, or surgeon’s mate, in the absence of the surgeon.

_Requisitions for Fuel or Straw._

1. Requisitions for wood or straw, must state the number and rank, of the officers; the number of non-commissioned officers, and privates, servants and batmen not soldiers, and of washer-women for whom demanded, and be certified by the commandant of the garrison, or recruiting party.

2. No wood or straw shall be drawn for officers, or wood or straw for soldiers, whilst on furlough, or any allowance made to them for the same.