.... 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 martial, 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 commissioned 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 the 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 authorized 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 * Punishment by stripes or lashes not allowed-see act of con gress, May, 16, 1812. .... 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. ART. 91. In cases where the general or commanding officer may order a court of inquiry to examine into the nature of any transaction, accusation or imputation against any officer or soldier, the said court shall consist of one or more officers, not exceeding three, and a judge advocate, or other suitable person as a recorder, to reduce the proceedings and evidence to writing, all of whom shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duty. This court shall have the same power to summon witnesses as a court martial, and to examine them on oath. But they shall not give their opinion on the merits of the case, excepting they shall be thereto specially required. The parties accused shall also be permitted to cross examine, and interrogate the witnesses, so as to investigate fully the circumstances in question. .... ART. 92. The proceedings of a court of inquiry must be authenticated by the signature of the recorder and the president, and delivered to the commanding officer; and the said proceedings may be admitted as evidence by a court martial, in cases not capital, or extending to the dismission of an officer, provided that the circumstances are such, that oral testimony cannot be obtained. But as courts of inquiry may be perverted to dishonorable purposes, and may be considered as engines of destruction to military merit, in the hands of weak and envious commandants, they are hereby prohibited, unless directed by the Presi dent of the United States, or demanded by the accused. ART. 93. The judge advocate, or recorder, shall administer to the members the following oath: "You shall well and truly examine and inquire, according to your evidence, into the matter now before you, without partiality, favor, affection, prejudice, or hope of reward. So help you God." After which the president shall administer to the judge advocate, or recorder, the following oath : "You, A. B. do swear, that you will, according to your best abilities, accurately and impartially record the proceedings of the court, and the evidence to be given in the case in hearing. So help you God." The witnesses shall take the same oath as witnesses sworn before a court martial. ART. 94. When any commissioned officer shall die, or be killed in the service of the United States, the major of the regiment, or the officer doing the major's duty in his absence, or in any post or garrison the second officer in command, or the assistant military agent, shall immediately secure all his effects or equipage then in camp or quarters, and shall make an inventory thereof, and forthwith transmit the same to the office of the department of war, to the end, that his executors or administrators may receive the same. .... ART. 95. When any non-commissioned officer, or soldier, shall die, or be killed in the service of the United States, the then commanding officer of the troop, or company, shall, in the presence of two other commissioned officers, take an account of what effects he died possessed of, above his arms and accoutrements, and transmit the same to the office of the department of war; which said effects are to be accounted for, and paid to the representatives of such deceased non-commissioned officer, or soldier. And in case any of the officers, so authorized to take care of the effects of deceased officers and soldiers, should before they have accounted to their representatives for the same, have occasion to leave the regiment, or post, by preferment, or otherwise, they shall, before they be permitted to quit the same, deposit in the hands of the commanding officer, or of the assistant military agent, all the effects of such deceased noncommissioned officers and soldiers, in order that the same may be secured for, and paid to their respective representatives. ART. 96. All officers, conductors, gunners, matrosses, drivers, or other persons whatsoever, receiving pay, or hire, in the service of the artillery or corps of engineers of the United States, shall be governed by the aforesaid rules and articles, and shall be subject to be tried by courts martial, in like manner with the officers and soldiers of the other troops in the service of the United States. ART. 97. The officers and soldiers of any troops · whether militia or others, being mustered and in pay of the United States, shall, at all times, and in all places, when joined, or acting in conjunction with the regular forces of the United States, be governed by these rules and articles of war, and shall be subject to be tried by courts martial in like manner with the officers and soldiers in the regular forces, save only, that such courts martial shall be composed entirely of militia officers. |