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Ordinances passed by the Convention -- An Ordinance for the better government of the Forces to be raised and employed in the service of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. [1775-08] Virginia, Convention. [S4-V3-p0411] [Document Details][Complete Volume]
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II. An Ordinance for the better government of the Forces to be raised and employed in the service of the Colony and Dominion of VIRGINIA.
Be it ordained by the Representatives of the People in Convention assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the following Rules and Articles be established, that is to say:
ARTICLE I. That every Officer and Soldier who shall serve in the Provincial Army, either of Regulars of Minute-Men, shall, at the time of accepting his Commission and Enlistment, subscribe the following Rules and Regulations, and thereafter be bound by the same; and moreover, every Officer and Soldier (except Quakers, who are to make a solemn affirmation to the same effect) shall take the following Oaths, to be administered by the Committee of Safety to the Field-Officers, by the respective County Committees to the Officers to be by them nominated, and by a Justice of Peace to any Soldier, not under two days from the time of his enlistment, or a Member of the Committee of any County, City, or Borough, where he may be enlisted.
"I, A B, do swear that I will be faithful and true to the Colony and Dominion of Virginia; that I will serve the same to the utmost of my power, in defence of the just rights of America, against all enemies whatsoever; that I will, from time to time, obey such orders as I may receive from the General Convention, or other authority by them appointed; and that I will disband all the Forces under my command and lay down my arms, when required by the General Convention, or the General Assembly of Virginia. So help me God."
"I, A B, do swear that I will be faithful and true to the Colony and Dominion of Virginia; that I will serve the same to the utmost of my power, in defence of the just rights of America, against all enemies whatsoever; that I will obey the orders of such Officers who may be set over me, and lay down my arms peaceably, when required so to do either by the General Convention or the General Assembly of Virginia. So help me God."
ART. II. It is earnestly recommended to all Officers and Soldiers diligently to attend divine service; and all Officers and Soldiers who shall behave indecently and irreverently at any place of divine worship, shall, if Commissioned Officers, be brought before a Court-Martial, there to be publickly and severely reprimanded by the President. If Non-Commissioned Officers or Soldiers, every person so offending shall, for the first offence, forfeit one day' s pay; for the second offence, he shall not only forfeit the like
sum, but be confined for any time not exceeding twenty-four hours; and for every other like offence shall forfeit and pay in like manner, to the use of the sick Soldiers of the Regiment to which the offender belongs.
ART. III. Whatsoever Commissioned or Non-Commissioned Officers or Soldiers shall use any profane oath or execration shall incur the penalties expressed in the second article; and if a Commissioned Officer be thus guilty of profane cursing or swearing, he shall forfeit for each and every such offence one day' s pay. And whatsoever Commissioned, or Non-Commissioned Officer or Soldier shall practise any species of gaming, he shall, on being convicted thereof before a Regimental Court-Martial, pay such fine or suffer such punishment as may be inflicted by the said Court.
ART. IV. Any Officer or Soldier who shall behave himself
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with contempt or disrespect towards the Generals, General, or Commander-in-Chief of the Provincial Forces, or shall speak false words, tending to his or their hurt or dishonour, shall be punished according to the nature of his offence, by the judgment of a General Court-Martial.
ART. V. Any Officer or Soldier who shall begin, excite, cause, or join in any mutiny or sedition, in the Regiment or Company to which he belongs, or in any other Regiment or Company of the Provincial Forces, either by land or sea, in any party, post, detachment, or guard, on any pretence whatsoever, shall suffer such punishment as by a General Court-Martial shall be ordered.
ART. VI. Any Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer, or Soldier, who, being present at any mutiny or sedition, does not use his utmost endeavours to suppress the same, or, coming to the knowledge of any mutiny, or intended mutiny, does not, without delay, give information thereof to the Commanding Officer, shall be punished, by order of a General Court-Martial, according to the nature of his offence.
ART. VII. Any Officer or Soldier who shall strike his superiour Officer, or draw, or offer to draw, or shall lift up any weapon, or offer any violence against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretence whatsoever, or shall disobey any lawful commands of his superiour Officer, shall suffer such punishment as shall, according to the nature of his offence, be ordered by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. VIII. Any Non-Commissioned Officer or Soldier who shall desert, or, without leave from his Commanding Officer, absent himself from the Company to which he belongs, or from any detachment of the same, shall, upon being convicted thereof, be punished according to the nature of his offence, at the discretion of a General Court-Martial.
ART. IX. Whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall be convicted of having advised or persuaded any other Officer or Soldier to desert, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. X. All Officers, of what condition soever, shall have power to part and quell all quarrels, frays, and disorders, though the persons concerned belong to another Regiment or Company, and either order Officers or Soldiers to be confined or imprisoned till their proper superiour Officer shall be acquainted therewith; and whoever shall refuse to obey such Officer, (though of an inferiour
rank,) or shall draw his sword upon him, shall be punished at the discretion of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XI. No Officer or Soldier shall use any reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures to another, nor shall presume to send a challenge to any person to fight a duel; and whosoever shall knowingly and willingly suffer any person whatsoever to go forth to fight a duel, or shall second, promote, or carry any challenge, shall be deemed as a principal; and whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall upbraid another for refusing a challenge, shall also be considered as a challenger; and all such offenders, in any of those or such like cases, shall be punished at the discretion of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XII. Any Officer commanding in quarters 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 any complaint made to him of Officers or Soldiers beating or otherwise ill-treating any person, or of committing any kind of riot, to the disquieting of the inhabitants of this Colony, 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 the offender' s wages will enable him or them, shall, upon due proof thereof, be punished as ordered by a General Court-Martial, in such manner as if he himself had committed the crimes or disorders complained of.
ART. XIII. If any Officer or Soldier should 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 or Commander-in-Chief of the Provincial Regulars, in order to obtain justice; who is hereby required to examine into the said complaint, and see that justice be done.
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ART. XIV. If any Officer or Soldier shall think himself wronged by his Captain, or other Officer commanding the 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 the doing justice to the complainant, from which Regimental Court-Martial either party may, if he thinks 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 a General Court-Martial.
ART. XV. 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, Arms, or Provisions, or other Military Stores delivered out to him, to be employed in the service of this Colony, shall, if an Officer, be reduced to a private Sentinel; and if a private Soldier, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XVI. All Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers who shall be found one mile from the Camp, without leave in writing from the Commanding Officer, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted on him or them by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XVII. No Officer or Soldier shall be out of his Quarters or Camp without leave from the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, upon penalty of being punished, according to the nature of his offence, by a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XVIII. Every Non-Commissioned Officer and Soldier shall repair 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 order of a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XIX. No Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer, or Soldier, shall fail of repairing, at the time fixed, to the place of parade or exercise, or other rendezvous appointed by the Commanding Officer, if not prevented by sickness, or some other 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 penalty of being punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a Regimental
Court-Martial.
ART. XX. Whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall be found drunk on his guard, party, or other duty, under Arms, shall be cashiered for it. Any Non-Commissioned Officer or Soldier, so offending, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XXI. Whatsoever Sentinel shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XXII. Any person belonging to the Provincial Army who, by discharging of Fire-Arms, beating of Drums, or by any other means whatsoever, shall occasion false alarms in Camp or Quarters, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XXIII. Any Officer or Soldier who shall, without urgent necessity, or without leave of his superiour Officer, quit his platoon or division, shall be punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XXIV. No Officer or Soldier shall do violence or offer any insult or abuse to any person who shall bring Provisions or other necessaries to the Camp or Quarters of the Provincial Army. Any Officer or Soldier, so offending, shall suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by a Regimental Court-Martial.
ART. XXV. Whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall shamefully abandon any post committed to his charge, or shall induce others so to do, in the time of an engagement, shall suffer death immediately.
ART. XXVI. Any person belonging to the Provincial Army 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.
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ART. XXVII. Whosoever belonging to the Provincial Arrny shall relieve the enemy with Money, Victuals, or Ammunition, or shall knowingly harbour or protect an enemy, shall suffer such punishment as shall by a General Court-Martial be ordered.
ART. XXVIII. Whosoever belonging to the Provincial Army shall be convicted of holding correspondence with, or of giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a General Court-Martial shall be ordered.
ART. XXIX. All Publick Stores taken in the enemy' s Camp or Magazine, whether of Artillery, Ammunition, Clothing, or Provisions, shall be secured for the use of the Colony of Virginia.
ART. XXX. If any Officer or Soldier shall leave his post or colours, at the time of an engagement, to go in search of plunder, he shall, upon being convicted thereof before a General Court-Martial, suffer such punishment as by the said Court-Martial shall be ordered.
ART. XXXI. If any Commander of any Post, Intrenchment, or Fortress, shall be compelled, by the Officers or Soldiers under his command, to give it up to the enemy, or to abandon it, the Commissioned Officer, or Non-Commissioned Officer, or Soldier, who shall be convicted of having so offended, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as may be inflicted on them by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XXXII. All Sutlers and Retainers to a Camp, and all persons whatsoever serving with the Provincial Army in the field, though not enlisted as Soldiers, are to be subject to the Articles, Rules, and Regulations, of the Provincial Army.
ART. XXXIII. No General Court-Martial shall consist of a less number than thirteen, none of which shall be under the degree of a Commissioned Officer, and the President shall be a Field-Officer. And the President of each and every Court-Martial, whether General or Regimental, shall have power to administer an Oath to every witness, in order to the trial of offenders; and the Members of all Courts-Martial shall be duly sworn by the President, and the next in rank to the Court-Martial shall administer the Oath to the President. Provided, that when any person is to be tried for his life, under any of the foregoing or subsequent Articles, the Commanding Officer shall appoint twenty-four Members, at least, to be of the Court-Martial, two of which shall be Field-Officers, and ten shall be Captains, out of which the offender may choose fifteen, one of whom shall be a Field-Officer, and five of them Captains, and sentence of death shall not be pronounced unless twelve of the Court-Martial concur in such sentence.
ART. XXXIV. The Members, both of General and Regimental Courts-Martial, shall, when belonging to the different Corps, take the same rank that they hold in the Army; but, when Courts-Martial shall be composed of Officers of one Corps, they shall take their ranks according to their commissions by which they are mustered in the said Corps.
ART. XXXV. All the Members of a Court-Martial are to behave with calmness, decency, moderation, and impartiality; and, in giving their votes, are to begin with the youngest or lowest in commission.
ART. XXXVI. No Field-Officer shall be tried by any person under the degree of a Captain; nor shall any proceedings or trial be carried on, excepting between the hours of eight in the morning and three in the afternoon, except in cases which require an immediate example.
ART. XXXVII. The Commissioned Officers of every Regiment may, by the appointment of their Colonel or Commanding Officer, hold Regimental Courts-Martial for the inquiring into such disputes or criminal matters as may come before them, and for inflicting corporal punishment 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) shall have confirmed the same.
ART. XXXVIII. No Regimental Court-Martial shall consist of less than five Officers, excepting in cases where that number cannot be conveniently assembled, when three may be sufficient, who are likewise to determine upon the sentence by a majority of voices, which sentence is to be confirmed by the Commanding Officer, not being a Member of the Court-Martial.
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ART. XXXIX. Every Officer commanding in any Fort, Castle, or Barrack, or elsewhere, where the Corps under his command consists of detachments from different Regiments, and any other Forces that may compose the Corps, 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 till it shall be confirmed by the said Commanding Officer.
ART. XL. No person whatsoever shall use menacing words, signs, or gestures, in the presence of a Court-Martial when 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. XLI. To the end that offenders may be brought to justice, 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 shall be either tried by a Court-Martial, or shall be lawfully discharged by proper authority.
ART. XLII. No Officer or Soldier, who shall be put in arrest or imprisonment, shall Continue in his confinement
more than eight days, or till such time as a Court-Martial can be conveniently assembled.
ART. XLIII. 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 Provincial Forces; which Officer shall, at the same time, deliver an accusation, signed by himself, of the crime with which the said prisoner is charged.
ART. XLIV. No Officer commanding a Guard, or Provost-Martial, shall presume to release any prisoner committed to his charge without proper authority for so doing; nor shall he suffer any prisoner to escape, on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.
ART. XLV. Every Officer or Provost-Martial, to whose charge prisoners shall be committed, is hereby required, within twenty-four hours after such commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his guard, to give in writing to the Colonel of the Regiment to whom the prisoner belongs, where the prisoner is confined upon the guard belonging to the said Regiment, and that his offence only relates to neglect of duty, in his own Corps, or to the Cornmander-in-Chief, their names, their crimes, and the name of the Officer who committed them, on the penalty of being punished, for his disobedience or neglect, at the discretion of the General Court-Martial.
ART. XLVI. Whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall leave his confinement before he is set at liberty by the Officer who confined him, or by a superiour power, shall be cashiered for it.
ART. XLVII. Whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall be convicted before a General Court-Martial of behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, such as is unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, shall be discharged from the service.
ART. XLVIII. All Officers, Conductors, Gunners, Matrosses, Drivers, or any other persons whatsoever, receiving pay or hire in the service of the Provincial Artillery, 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 Provincial Forces.
ART. XLIX. For differences arising among themselves, or in matters relating solely to their own Corps, Courts-Martial may be composed of their own Officers; but where a number sufficient of such Officers cannot be assembled, or in matters wherein other Corps are interested, the Officers of Artillery shall sit in Courts-Martial with the Officers of the Corps.
ART. L. 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 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. LI. That no person shall be sentenced by the Court-Martial to suffer death, except in the cases expressly mentioned in the foregoing Articles; nor shall any punishment be inflicted, at the discretion of the Court-Martial,
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other than degrading, cashiering, drumming out of the Army; whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes; fine, not exceeding two months' pay of the offender; imprisonment, not exceeding one month.
ART. LII. The Field-Officers of each and every Regiment are to appoint some suitable person belonging to such Regiment, to receive all such fines as may arise within the same for any breach of any of the foregoing Articles, and shall direct the same to be carefully and properly applied to the relief of such sick, wounded, or necessitous Soldiers, as belong to such Regiment; and such person shall account with such Officer for all fines received, and the application thereof.
ART. LIII. All Members sitting in Courts-Martial shall be sworn by the President of the said Court, which President shall himself be sworn by the Officer in the said Court next in rank: the Oath to be administered previous to their proceeding to the trial of every offender, in form following, viz:
You, A B, swear, that you will well and truly try and impartially determine the cause of the prisoner now to be tried, according to the rules for regulating the Provincial Army. So help you God."
ART. LIV. All persons called to give evidence in any case before a Court-Marlial, who shall refuse to give evidence, shall be punished for such refusal at the discretion of such Court-Martial: the Oath to be administered in the following form, viz: "You shall swear the evidence you shall give, in the case now in hearing, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God."
ART. LV. Every Officer commanding a Regiment or Company shall, upon notice given to him by the Commissary of Musters, or from one of his Deputies, assemble the Regiment or Company under his command, in the next convenient place for their being mustered.
ART. LVI. Every Colonel or other Field-Officer, or Officer commanding any Corps to which there is no Field-Officer, 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 inferiour officer commanding the 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 Company, excepting some extraordinary occasion shall require it; of which occasion the Field-Officer present with, and commanding the Regiment or Independent Corps, is to be judge.
ART. LVII. At every Muster the Commanding Officer of each Regiment or Company then present, shall give to the Commissary of Musters certificates, signed by himself, signifying how long such Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Soldiers, who shall not appear at the said Muster, have been absent, and the reason of their absence; which reason, and the time of absence, shall be inserted in the Muster-Rolls, opposite to the respective names of such absentees; the said certificate, together with the Muster-Roll, to be, by the said Commissary, transmitted to the Commanding Officer of the Provincial Forces, and by him to the
Committee of Safety appointed by this Convention, within twenty days next after such Muster being taken; on failure
whereof, the Commissary so offending shall be discharged from the service.
ART. LVIII. Every Officer who shall be convicted before a General Court-Martial of having signed a false certificate, relating to the absence of either Officers or Non-Commissioned Officers, or private Soldiers, shall be cashiered.
ART. LIX. 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, moreover, forfeit all such pay as may he due to him at the time of conviction for such offence.
ART. LX. Any Commissary who shall be convicted of having taken any gift or gratuity on the mustering any Regiment or Company, on the signing the Muster-Rolls, shall be displaced from his office, and forfeit and pay as in the preceding Article.
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ART. LXI. Any Officer who shall presume to muster any person as a Soldier who is at all 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.
ART. LXII. Every Officer who shall knowingly make a false Return to the Commander-in-Chief of the Provincial Forces, or to any of his superiour Officers authorized to call for such Returns of the state of the Regiment, Company, or Garrison, under his command, or of Arms, Ammunition, Clothing, or other Stores thereunto belonging, shall by a Court-Martial be cashiered.
ART. LXIII. The Commanding Officer of every Regiment or other Corps, or of any Garrison in the service aforesaid, shall, in the beginning of every month, remit to the Commander-in-Chief of the said Forces an exact Return of the state of the Regiment, Troops, or other Corps, or of any Garrison under his command, specifying the names of the Officers not then residing at their posts, and the reason 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 their offence, by the judgment of a General Court-Martial.
ART. LXIV. No Sutler shall be permitted to sell any kind of liquor or victuals, or to keep their houses or shops open, for the entertainment of Soldiers, after nine at night, or before the beating the reveilles, or upon Sundays during divine service or sermon, on the penalty of being dismissed from all future sutling.
ART. LXV. All Officers commanding in the Camp, or in any Forts, Barracks, or Garrisons, are hereby required to see that the persons permitted to suttle shall supply the Soldiers with good and wholesome provisions, at a reasonable price, as they shall be answerable for their neglect.
ART. LXVI. No Officer commanding in any Camp, Garrison, Fort, or Barracks, shall either themselves exact exorbitant prices for houses or stalls let out to Sutlers, or connive at the like exactions in others, or 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 Camp, Garrison, Fort, or Barracks, for the
use of the Soldiers, on the penalty of being discharged from the service.
ART. LXVII. That the Commanders-in-Chief, for the time being, shall have full power of pardoning or mitigating any of the punishments ordered to be inflicted for any of the offences mentioned in any of the foregoing Articles; and every offender, convicted as aforesaid by any Regimental Court-Martial, may be pardoned, or have his punishment mitigated, by the Colonel or Officer commanding the Regiment.
ART. LXVIII. When any Commissioned Officer shallhappen to die, or be killed in the service of this Colony, the Major of the Regiment, or the Officer doing the Major' s duty in his absence, shall immediately secure all his effects or equipage, then in Camp or Quarters, and shall, before the next Regimental Court-Martial, make an inventory thereof, and forthwith transmit the same to the office of the Secretary of the Committee of Safety, to the end that his executors may, after the payment of his debts, in
quarter and interment, receive the overplus, if any be, to his or their use.
ART. LXIX. When any Non-Commissioned Officer or Private Soldier shall happen to die, or be killed in the service of this Colony, the then Commanding Officer of the Company shall, in the presence of two other Commissioned Officers, take an account of whatever effects he dies possessed of, and transmit the same, as in the case above provided for, in order that the same may be secured for and paid to their respective representatives.
ART. LXX. No Chaplain who is commissioned to a Regiment, Company, or Garrison, shall absent himself from the said Regiment, Company, or Garrison, (excepting in cases of sickness or leave of absence,) upon pain of being brought to a Court-Martial and punished, as their judgment and the circumstances of the offence may require.
ART. LXXI. Whatever Chaplain to a Regiment or Garrison shall be guilty of drunkenness, or of other scandalous or vicious behaviour, derogating from the sacred character
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with which he is invested, shall, upon due proofs before a Court-Martial, be discharged from his office.
ART. LXXII. No sentence of a Court-Martial, whereby the pains of death are to be inflicted on any offender, shall be carried into execution till the same hath been approved of by the Committee of Safety, and such approbation certified to the Commander-in-Chief.
ART. LXXIII. The foregoing Rules and Regulations shall be publickly read at the head of each Regiment, once in three months, by order of the Colonel or Commander-in-Chief of such Regiment, under the penalty of fifty Pounds, to be paid by such Colonel or Commander for every neglect.
An Ordinance for the better government of the Forces
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Ordinances passed by the Convention -- An Ordinance for the better government of the Forces to be raised and employed in the service of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. [1775-08] Virginia, Convention. [S4-V3-p0411] [Document Details][Complete Volume]