SECTION IV.

ART. 1. Every officer commanding a regiment, troop, or company, shall, upon the notice given to him by the commissary of musters, or from one of his deputies, assemble the regiment, troop, or company under his command, in the next convenient place for their being mustered.

ART. 2. Every colonel or other field officer commanding the regiment, troop or company, and actually residing with it, may give furloughs to non-commissioned officers and soldiers, in such numbers, and for so long a time, as he shall judge to be most consistent with the good of the service; but no non-commissioned officer or soldier shall, by leave of his captain, or inferior officer, commanding the troop or company (his field officer not being present) be absent above twenty days in six months, nor shall more than two private men be absent at the same time from their troop or company, excepting some extraordinary occasion shall require it, of which occasion the field officer, present with, and commanding the regiment, is to be the judge.

ART. 3. At every muster, the commanding officer of each regiment, troop, or company, there present, shall give to the commissary, certificates, signed by himself, signifying how long such officers, who shall not appear at the said muster, have been absent, and the reason of their absence; in like manner, the commanding officer of every troop or company shall give certificates, signifying the reasons of the absence of the non-commissioned officers and private soldiers; which reasons, and time of absence, shall be inserted in the muster rolls opposite to the names of the respective absent officers and soldiers: The said certificates shall, together with the muster rolls, be remitted by the commissary to the Congress, as speedily as the distance of place will admit.

ART. 4. Every officer who shall be convicted before a general court-martial of having signed a false certificate, relating to the absence of either officer or private soldier, shall be cashiered.

ART. 5. Every officer who shall knowingly make a false muster of man or horse, and every officer or commissary who shall willingly sign, direct, or allow the signing of the muster rolls, wherein such false muster is contained, shall, upon proof made thereof by two witnesses before a general court-martial, be cashiered, and shall be thereby utterly disabled to have or hold any office or employment in the service of the United States.

ART. 6. Any commissary who shall be convicted of having taken money, or any other thing, by way of gratification, on the mustering any regiment, troop, or company, or on the signing the muster rolls, shall be displaced from his office, and shall be thereby utterly disabled to have or hold any office or employment under the United States.

ART. 7. Any officer who shall presume to muster any person as a soldier, who is, at other times, accustomed to wear a livery, or who does not actually do his duty as a soldier, shall be deemed guilty of having made a false muster, and shall suffer accordingly.

SECTION V.

ART. 1. Every officer who shall knowingly make a false return to the Congress, or any committee thereof, to the commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States, or to any, his superior officer, authorized to call for such returns, of the state of the regiment, troop, or company, or garrison,

under his command, or of arms, ammunition, clothing, or other stores thereunto belonging, shall, by a court-martial, be cashiered.

ART. 2. The commanding officer of every regiment, troop, or independent company, or garrison of the United States, shall, in the beginning of every month, remit to the commander-in-chief of the American forces, and to the Congress, an exact return of the state of the regiment, troop, independent company, or garrison under his command, specifying the names of the officers not then residing at their posts, and the reasons for, and time of, their absence: Whoever shall be convicted of having, through neglect or design, omitted the sending such returns, shall be punished according to the nature of his crime, by the judgment of a general court-martial.

SECTION VI.

ART. 1. All officers and soldiers who, having received pay, or having been duly enlisted in the service of the United States, shall be convicted of having deserted the same, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted.

ART. 2. Any non-commissioned officer or soldier, who shall, without leave from his commanding officer, absent himself from his troop or company, or from any detachment with which he shall be commanded, shall, upon being convicted thereof, be punished, according to the nature of his offence, at the discretion of a court-martial.

ART. 3. No non-commissioned officer or soldier shall enlist himself in any other regiment, troop, or company, without a regular discharge from the regiment, troop, or company, in which he last served, on the penalty of being reputed a deserter, and suffering accordingly: And in case any officer shall, knowingly, receive and entertain such non-commissioned officer or soldier, or shall not, after his being discovered to be a deserter, immediately confine him, and give notice thereof to the corps in which he last served, he, the said officer so offending, shall, by a court-martial, be cashiered.

ART. 4. Whatsoever officer or soldier shall be convicted of having advised or persuaded any other officer or soldier to desert the service of the United States, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted upon him by the sentence of a court-martial.

SECTION VII.

ART. 1. No officer or soldier shall use any reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures to another, upon pain, if an officer, of being put in arrest; if a soldier, imprisoned, and of asking pardon of the party offended, in the presence of his commanding officer.

ART. 2. No officer or soldier shall presume to send a challenge to any other officer or soldier, to fight a duel, upon pain, if a commissioned officer, of being cashiered, if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, of suffering corporeal punishment, at the discretion of a court-martial.

ART. 3. If any commissioned or non-commissioned officer commanding a guard, shall, knowingly and willingly, suffer any person whatsoever to go forth to fight a duel, he shall be punished as a challenger: And likewise all seconds, promoters, and carriers of challenges, in order to duels, shall be deemed as principals, and be punished accordingly.

ART. 4. All officers, of what condition soever, have power to part and quell all quarrels, frays, and disorders, though the persons concerned should belong to another regiment, troop, or company; and either to order officers

into arrest, or non-commissioned officers or soldiers to prison, till their proper superior officers shall be acquainted therewith; and whosoever shall refuse to obey such officer, (though of an inferior rank,) or shall draw his sword upon him, shall be punished at the discretion of a general courtmartial.

ART. 5. Whatsoever officer or soldier shall upbraid another for refusing a challenge, shall himself be punished as a challenger; and all officers and soldiers are hereby discharged of any disgrace, or opinion of disadvantage, which might arise from their having refused to accept of challenges, as they will only have acted in obedience to the orders of Congress, and done their duty as good soldiers, who subject themselves to discipline.

SECTION VIII.

ART. 1. No sutler shall be permitted to sell any kind of liquors or victuals, or to keep their houses or shops open, for the entertainment of soldiers, after nine at night, or before the beating of the reveilles, or upon Sundays, during divine service or sermon, on the penalty of being dismissed from all future sutling.

ART. 2. All officers, soldiers, and sutlers, shall have full liberty to bring into any of the forts or garrisons of the United American States, any quantity or species of provisions, eatable or drinkable, except where any contract or contracts are, or shall be entered into by Congress, or by their order, for furnishing such provisions, and with respect only to the species of provisions so contracted for.1

ART. 3. All officers commanding in the forts, barracks, or garrisons of the United States, are hereby required to see, that the persons permitted to suttle, shall supply the soldiers with good and wholesome provisions at the market price, as they shall be answerable for their neglect.

ART. 4. No officers commanding in any of the garrisons, forts, or barracks of the United States, shall either themselves exact exorbitant prices for houses or stalls let out to sutlers, or shall connive at the like exactions in others; nor, by their own authority and for their private advantage, shall they lay any duty or imposition upon, or be interested in the sale of such victuals, liquors, or other necessaries of life, which are brought into the garrison, fort, or barracks, for the use of the soldiers, on the penalty of being discharged from the service.

SECTION IX.

ART. 1. Every officer commanding in quarters, garrisons, or on a march, shall keep good order, and, to the utmost of his power, redress all such abuses or disorders which may be committed by any officer or soldier under his command; if, upon complaint made to him of officers or soldiers beating, or otherwise ill-treating any person; of disturbing fairs or markets, or of committing any kind of riots to the disquieting of the good people of the United States; he the said commander, who shall refuse or omit to see justice done on the offender or offenders, and reparation made to the party or parties injured, as far as part of the offender's pay shall enable him or them, shall, upon proof thereof, be punished, by a general court-martial, as if he himself had committed the crimes or disorders complained of.

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

SECTION X.

ART. 1. Whenever any officer or soldier shall be accused of a capital crime, or of having used violence, or committed any offence against the persons or property of the good people of any of the United American States, such as is punishable by the known laws of the land, the commanding officer and officers of every regiment, troop, or party, to which the person or persons so accused shall belong, are hereby required, upon application duly made by or in behalf of the party or parties injured, to use his utmost endeavors to deliver over such accused person or persons to the civil magistrate; and likewise to be aiding and assisting to the officers of justice in apprehending and securing the person or persons so accused, in order to bring them to a trial. If any commanding officer or officers shall wilfully neglect or shall refuse, upon the application aforesaid, to deliver over such accused person or persons to the civil magistrate, or to be aiding and assisting to the officers of justice in apprehending such person or persons, the officer or officers so offending shall be cashiered.

ART. 2. No officer shall protect any person from his creditors, on the pretence of his being a soldier, nor any non-commissioned officer or soldier who does not actually do all duties as such, and no farther than is allowed by a resolution of Congress, bearing date the 26th day of December, 1775.1 Any officer offending herein, being convicted thereof before a court-martial, shall be cashiered.

SECTION XI.

ART. 1. If any officer shall think himself to be wronged by his colonel, or the commanding officer of the regiment, and shall, upon due application made to him, be refused to be redressed, he may complain to the general, commanding in chief the forces of the United States, in order to obtain justice, who is hereby required to examine into the said complaint, and, either by himself, or the board of war, to make report to Congress thereupon, in order to receive further directions.2

ART. 2. If any inferior officer or soldier shall think himself wronged by his captain, or other officer commanding the troop or company to which he belongs, he is to complain thereof to the commanding officer of the regiment, who is hereby required to summon a regimental court-martial, for

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1775.

Whereas there is reason to believe, that divers persons, either from inattention to the public good, or with design to retard the recruiting service, have arrested and imprisoned, for very trifling debts, many soldiers, who had engaged to risque their lives in defence of the liberties of America; and, as it has always been found necessary, in time of war, to regulate and restrain a practice of such pernicious tendency, and, in such cases, to abate the rigor of the law:

Resolved, therefore, That it be recommended to the several legislatures in these colonies, whether assemblies or conventions, to pass acts or ordinances, prohibiting the arrest of continental soldiers for small debts; and in order that the same rule may pervade all the colonies, that no soldier be arrested at the suit of any of his creditors, unless the said creditor make oath, that the said soldier is justly indebted to him in the sum of thirty-five dollars over and above all discounts; and that the estate of no such soldier be liable to attachment at the suit of, or for the benefit of all his creditors, unless their debts in the whole, on being ascertained by their oaths, shall amount to more than one hundred and fifty dollars.

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

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