Art. 97. The officers and soldiers of any troops, whether militia or others, being mustered and in pay of the U. States, shall, at all times, and in all places, when joined, or acting in conjunction with the regular forces of the U. 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.
Art. 98. All officers, serving by commission from the authority of any particular state, shall on all detachments, courts-martial, or other duty, wherein they may be employed in conjunction with the regular forces of the U. States, take rank, next after all officers of the like grade in said regular forces, notwithstanding the commissions of such militia or state officers may be elder than the commissions of the officers of the regular forces of the U. States.
Art. 99. All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neglects which officers and soldiers may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, though not mentioned in the foregoing articles of war, are to be taken cognizance of by a general or regimental court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence, and be punished at their discretion.
Art. 100. The president of the United States, shall have power to prescribe the uniform of the army.
Art. 101. The foregoing articles are to be read and published once in every six months, to every garrison, regiment, troop or company, mustered or to be mustered in the service of the U. States, and are to be duly observed and obeyed, by all officers and soldiers who are or shall be in said service.
Sect. II.And be it further enacted, That in time of war, all persons not citizens of, or owing allegiance to the U. States of America, who shall be found lurking as spies, in or about the fortifications or encampments of the armies of the U. States, or any of them, shall suffer death, according to the law and usage ofnations, by sentence of a general court-martial.
Sect. III.And be it further enacted, That the rules and regulations, by which the armies of the U. States have heretofore been governed, and the resolves of Congress thereunto annexed, and respecting the same, shall, henceforth be void and of no effect, except so far as may relate to any transactions under them, prior to the promulgation of this act, at the several posts and garrisons respectively, occupied by any part of the army of the U. States.April 10, 1806.
Council ofWar, is an assembly of great officers called by a general, or commander, to deliberate with him on enterprizes and attempts to be made. On some occasions, council of war is also understood of an assembly of officers, sitting in judgment on delinquent soldiers, deserters, coward officers, &c.
War.This word is frequently prefixed or attached to things or persons, in order to distinguish their particular state or functions, viz.
Warestablishment. SeeEstablishment.
Warminister. SeeSecretary.
Secretary atWar. An efficient character at the head of the war office, with whom all matters belonging to the armyrest. SeeOffice.
War-Cry, was formerly customary in the armies of most nations, when they were just upon the point of engaging. Sometimes it consisted of tumultuous shouts, or horrid yells, uttered with an intent to strike terror into their adversaries; such as is now used by the Indians in America, called thewar-whoop.
WARASDINS, a kind of Sclavonian soldiers, clothed like the Turks, with a sugar-loaf bonnet instead of a hat. Their arms are a fusee and pistols; the butt end of their fusee serves for a spade, when they have occasion to throw up earth.
ToWARD. To guard; to watch; to defend; to parry any attack.
WARD. Watch; the act of guarding. A garrison or party stationed for defence of any place; a position of defence, or guard made by a weapon in fencing. That part of a lock, which, corresponding to the proper key, hinders any other from opening it. A district of a town; division of a building, &c. It is also used to denote one under the care and subject to the control of a guardian.
WARDEN. A keeper; a head officer.
Warden,or lord Warden of the Cinque ports. A magistrate that has the jurisdiction of those havens in the east part of England, commonly called the cinque ports, or five havens, where he is invested with all that jurisdiction which the admiral of England has in places not exempt. According to Cowel, from whom this explanation is taken, the reason why one magistrate should be assigned to these havens seems to be, because, in respect to their situation, they formerly required a more vigilant care than other havens, being in greater danger of invasion. On this account the lord chief warden of the cinque should be an officer of some experience, well skilled in the art of defence, and equal to the superintendance of so important a range of coast, upon which France had cast a jealous eye from time immemorial, and where Cæsar made a successful landing. It is, however, little more than a sinecure situation, and a snug retreat for ex-ministers.
By act the 26th of Geo. III. it has been enacted, that the warden of the cinque ports, two ancient towns, and their members, and in his absence his lieutenant or lieutenants, may put in execution, within the said ports, towns and members, all the powers and authorities given and granted by this act, in like manner as lieutenants of counties and their deputy lieutenants, may do, and shall keep up and continue the usual number of soldiers in the said ports, towns and members, unless he or they find cause to lessen the same. The militia of the ports is, according to this act, to remain separate from the militia of the counties, and may be called out, pursuant to an act passed in the 13th and 14th years of king Charles the Second, notwithstanding the pay advanced may not have been reimbursed.
WARDER. A guard; a truncheon by which an officer at arms forbade fight.
WARFARE. Military service, state of war.
ToWarfare. To lead a military life.
WARHABLE.-WARLIKE.
Military; fit for war.
Warlikevirtues, are, love of our country, courage, valor, prudence, intrepidity, temperance, disinterestedness, obedience, wisdom, vigilance, and patience. In the last celebration of the anniversary of the destruction of the Bastille, which took place at Paris on the 14th of July, 1789, the French characterized these eleven virtues by the following emblems:—a pelican, a lion, a horse, a stag, a wolf, an elephant, a dog, a yoked ox, an owl, a cock, and a camel.
WARNED. Admonished of some duty to be performed at a given time or place. Thus officers and soldiers are warned for guard, &c.
WARRANT. A writ of authority inferior to a commission: thus quarter-masters are warrant officers.
ToWARRAY. To make war upon any state or body of men. An obsolete word.
WARREN. A kind of park for rabbits.
Warren, at Woolwich, England, so called from the spot having formerly been stocked with rabbits. It now comprehends the head-quarters for the royal artillery, the royal foundery, the royal laboratory,and royal military academy; also famous for proofs and experiments of artillery, and great apparatus of war.
WARRIOR. A soldier; one who fights in war.
WAR-Whoop. A signal of attack among the Indians. SeeWhoop.
WARWOLF. In ancient military history, an engine for throwing stones and other great masses.
WAR-WORN. Worn out in the service.
WASELAAT,Ind.Collections made.
WASELBaky,Ind.Collections made, and balances struck.
WASHER. A flat circular ring put on the axle-tree, between the linch-pin and small end of the nave, to prevent the nave rubbing against the linch-pin and wearing it, as likewise to diminish the friction of the nave.
WASSYOUTNama,Ind.A will or last testament
ToWATCH. To keep guard; to be attentive and vigilant; to observe the conduct of any one.
Watch.A duty performed on board of ship. It likewise means the person who performs that duty.
Serjeant of theWatch. A non-commissioned officer belonging to the marines or other troops on board, who does duty for a stated period. At sea, the term watch denotes a measure or space of four hours, because half the ship’s company watch and do duty in their turns, so long at a time: and they are called the starboard watch and larboard watch.
The following instructions have been published respecting the watch duty which is to be done by troops embarked in transports, &c.
At eight o’clock in the evening, every man is to be in his birth, except the men on watch: the officer of the watch to go round with a lanthorn, to see that the above has been complied with.
The whole to be divided into three watches, both subaltern officers and men; the watch gives all the sentries, &c. &c.
A captain of the day to be appointed, to whom the subaltern of the watch will make his reports; and the captain to the commanding officer; if there be a superior officer on board.
The whole watch to be always on deck, except when rain obliges them to go down for shelter; and, in fine weather, every man should be upon deck the whole day.
WATCHMAN. A centinel, one set to keep guard.
WATCHTOWER. A tower on which a centinel was posted to keep guard against an enemy.
WATERING-Call. A trumpet sounding, on which the cavalry assemble to water their horses.
WATER-Rocket. A kind of firework made to burn in the water.
WATERING-Cap. A cap, made of leather or cloth, which dragoons wear when they water their horses or do stable-duty.
Watering-Jacket. A waistcoat with sleeves, which dragoons wear on the above occasions.
WATREGANS,Fr.This word is pronouncedoutregans, there being no W in the French alphabet. It is a Flemish term which is generally used in France, and signifies a ditch full of water, that has been made for the purpose of separating lands and inheritances. These ditches are sometimes large enough to receive small boats or barges, and run through a whole village.
WATTLE. A hurdle made by entwining twigs together.
WAY. A military road among the Romans and Saxons.
Wayof the rounds, in fortification, is a space left for the passage of the rounds, between the rampart and the wall of a fortified town. This is not much in use at present. SeeBerme.
ToWAYLAY. To beset by ambush.
WAYWODE,Ind.A prince; a chieftain.
WEAPON. An instrument of offence.
WEAPONED. Armed; furnished with arms of offence.
WEAPONLESS. Unarmed; having no weapon.
WEAR. A sluice-gate, or dam to shut up the water.
WEDGE. SeeCoins,Mechanic Powers, &c.
WEDGE. In a work translated from the French, and which is entitled, Observations on the Military Art, we find the following description of this instrument. It is composed of five surfaces, two of which are triangular, two long squared, and the fifth arbitrary. The two oblong surfaces, by their inclination to each other, form the point that insinuates itself into the wood, &c. that is to be split, as well as the sides or triangular surfaces, if the triangle, as it is driven, lengthens the slit or opening. They are the square surfaces that first insinuate themselves into the body to be cleft; and what are called triangular surfaces, are only what fill the space that separates the two quadrangular sides. After this reflection it appears, that the column has, at least, as just a claim as the triangle, to the term or word wedge. We may even say, with confidence, it has a much better; for a triangle of men ranged according to the same proportion as the triangle of the mechanic wedge, would be of very little force; and a mechanic wedge, of which the incisive angle was as great as that of a triangle of men, would be too large to enter those bodies we should want to cleave or split.
The double phalanx amphistome, of which Epaminondas formed the wedge, contained 3000 men, who were ranged,in Bouchaud’s opinion, one hundred in front, and 30 deep. This opinion, according to some is erroneous. Among the different evolutions of the ancients, the wedge was frequently resorted to, and was in some degree connected with the lozenge, which is a figure in geometry composed of four sides and four angles: of the four angles two are always obtuse, and two acute. The angles, that are alike, are always opposed one to the other, and always in the same number of degrees. According to Ælian, there are many ways of ranging squadrons in a lozenge: in the first, they have ranks and files; in the second, neither; in the third, they have files, but no ranks; lastly, in the fourth, they have ranks alone without files. With regard to the wedge, it was a formation which the ancients adopted both in cavalry and infantry evolutions, and was variously used,viz:—
TheWedgeof Cavalry. This figure was formed on the same principles and movements as the lozenge, as far as the greatest rank of the latter, which served as a base to the triangular wedge. It was therefore as the half of a lozenge, cut and divided at its obtuse angles.
The TriangularWedgeof Infantry.—Some people pretend, that there were two sorts of triangular wedges in use among the ancients. The first was full, and formed after the same manner as the lozenge, and the wedge of the cavalry. The second was open at the base, and ranged differently from that of the first.
TriangularWedgewith a full centre. The Greek soldier occupied, at all times, a square space greater or less in proportion to the requisite order, either at a review, advancing towards the enemy, or standing in a position to receive him. This wedge was formed according to the arithmetical progression ÷ 1, 3, 5, 7, &c.
The openWedge. This species of wedge was formed two different ways, with the Greeks and Romans. Bouchaud de Bussy, who takes them, one fromÆlian, whom he translates, and the other fromVegetius, gives us a third, which appears to be of his own invention, and is very much superior to the other two. According to Ælian, Epaminondas the Theban general employed the open wedge at the battle of Leuctra, and overthrew the Lacedemonians, whose army was much superior to the one he commanded. To form this wedge, the two divisions of a double phalanx amphistome, are to unite together at the head, being separate or open at the tail or rear; which gives them a near resemblance of the Greek letter Λ. Bouchaud de Bussy formed the wedge in the following manner:
“The same body of troops being in array, may likewise, says he, form the wedge in marching forward, and this manœuvre requires no preliminary movement. The three divisions being marked, as well as the three files of the centre which compose the head of the wedge, the following words of command are given.Marked divisions, prepare to form the wedge in advancing: march.At the first notice, the files and ranks close suddenly; at the second, the three files of the centre, which will be the two first left files of the division on the right, and the first right file in the division on the left, march straight forward; at their second pace, the first file, that is contiguous to them on the right, and that which is equally contiguous on the left, move in their turn, so as to have their chiefs or leaders on a line, and in a rank, as it were, with the second soldiers of the three files of the centre; at the second pace of the files, who have made the second motion, the files that touch them march immediately likewise, and the same manœuvre is to continue successively; each head of a file taking notice not to move, until the moment he finds himself on a line with the second man of the file contiguous, &c.”
This method is beyond dispute the most simple, short, and secure that can be devised. The men occupy necessary and proper spaces, and if the enemy’s resistance should stop their head, the rest of the files, continuing their movements, would all arrive on the same front to engage together, that is, they would be in their primitive order of the phalanx. This author, to whose observations we refer from page 170 to page 203, thus concludes: we shall only remark, that all terms, metaphorically applied, sooner or later produce doubts and uncertainty. Neither a column or triangle of men should have ever been denominated a wedge; for a line of troops is not formed to be split like a piece of timber; it may be opened, broken through, or divided into as many parts as possible.
WEIGHTS, in military matters, are those in general use, except in artillery, where hundreds are made use of, each of 112lb. quarters, each of 28lb, and pounds, each of 16 ounces.
Every officer should know the weight of the ordinary musquet, rifle, carbine, and musquetoon; the weight of ball carried by each, for proof and service; the weight of powder according to quality required for each gun, and for practice and service, as well as the range of each weapon.
Artillery officers should know the weight of metal in iron and brass guns of every calibre: they should know the difference between the weight of metal in guns formerly and at present, and the reasons for the reduction of the weight of metal; they should know the length as well as weight of guns, and the weight of cannon ball, and the windage allowed for cannon shot; they should know the weight allowed for case, cannister, and grape shot; and the weight of powder in every case. They should know the weight of mortarsof every dimension, and of the shells which they throw, and the powder necessary for every elevation and use.
The weight which horses and waggons can bear and draw on given kinds of roads. The burdens which boats, barges, and water craft can bear and carry on streams or rivers; and the expence of carriage by weight or measure in every situation. Military men should know the weight of men, horses, and every description of matter used or liable to be moved in service.
TABLEOFTROY-WEIGHT,Shewing the quantity of grains Troy-Weight contained by each of the weights used in the trade of precious metals, and the relation of foreign weights to 100 pounds Troy-Weight.
The following examples will shew in what manner the proportion between the weights of any two given countries may be ascertained.
Examples.
It is required to reduce 100 marcs of Hamburgh into marcs of France.
The marc of Hamburgh weighing 3608 grains, and the marc of France 3780, according to the table prefixed, state the following equation:
Reduce 100 marcs of France into marcs of Hamburgh.
TABLEOFAVOIRDUPOIS-WEIGHT,Shewing the quantity of grains Troy-weight contained by each of the weights used in the sale of merchandize, and the relation of foreign weights to 100 pounds and 112 pounds Avoirdupois-weight.