Commissary General

“ From the day on which a town is invested, every thing is thrown into motion. The train of artillery is directed to be brought out with necessary stores and ammunition, and proper carriages, with their drivers, are impressed; every department, in a word, performs its allotted duty, and the board of ordnance, as well as the commissary general’s office become subservient to the orders that are issued by the general in chief. ”

“ When a see is vacant the jurisdiction is exercised by a “special commissary” of the metropolitan. Commissary is also a general military term for an official charged with the duties of supply, transport and finance of an army. In the 17th and 18th centuries the commissaire des guerres, or Kriegskommissär was an important official in continental armies, by whose agency the troops, in their relation to the civil inhabitants, were placed upon semi-political control. ”

“ If they'd only put a good face on it, and pay willing obedience to King Joseph—though, to tell the truth, he's only a proxy for the emperor,—they'd live a quieter life and make the duties of the commissary less of a torture. I tell you, young man—moi qui vous parle—there isn't a more harassed man in the army than the commissary-general. ”

“ The enemy cannot get men again except by dragging them out, unless they should go to war with France—a not improbable event.
February 10th.—Gen. Lee wrote to the Secretary of War, on [Pg 147] the 22d of January, that his army was not fed well enough to fit them for the exertions of the spring campaign; and recommended the discontinuance of the rule of the Commissary-General allowing officers at Richmond, Petersburg, and many other towns, to purchase government meat, etc. etc. for the subsistence of their families, at schedule prices. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That the better to enable the commissary general of subsistence to carry into effect the provisions of the above specified acts, there be appointed two commissaries, to be taken from the line of the army, one of whom shall have the same rank, pay, and emoluments, as quartermaster ”

“ On 17 Nov., 1865, he became commissary of subsistence with the rank of major, and since the war he has been the commissary-general of various departments. He became brigadier-general in 1894, and was retired in 1897. ”

“ Companies will consist of eighty-five men, rank and file. If any company should be formed in the counties smaller or larger, they will be regulated after they arrive on the ground.
As the commissary-general will not be able to furnish a sufficient quantity of provisions for the army, the citizens of the territory are called on to deliver to his agents all the provisions they can, that the operations of the troops may not be impeded for want of pro visions. ”

“ It embraced the eatablishment of depots of stores, each in charge of a ‘reserve commissary,’ at Croydon, Leatherhead, Guildford, Farningham, and Rochester. In 1799 the post of commissary-general in England was created or restored for the benefit of Sir Brook Watson, and Le Mesurier, holding that he was thereby placed in a secondary position contrary to express stipulation, entered into a spirited controversy with the authorities, which ended in his resignation in June 1800. All the officers employed under him were soon after reduced, and a totally different system introduced. ”

“ The Commissaries will be authorised either by the Field Marshal, or by the Generals who command the troops of the respective Nations, in cases where their provisions are not supplied by an English Commissary, to make the proper requisitions, for which regular receipts will be given; and it must be strictly understood that they will themselves be held responsible for whatever they obtain in way of requisition from the inhabitants of France, in the same manner in which they would be esteemed accountable for purchases made for their own Government in the several dominions to which they belong. ”

“ The army must be fed or disbanded, or else the city must be abandoned. How we, “the people,” are to live is a thought of serious concern.
Gen. Lee has recommended that an appeal be made to the people to bring food to the army, to feed their sons and brothers; but the Commissary-General opposes it; probably it will not be done. No doubt the army could be half fed in this way for months. But the “red tape” men are inflexible and inscrutable. Nevertheless, the commissaries and quartermasters are getting rich.
February 19th.—The resignation of Gen. ”

“ Any commissary or muster-master, who shall be convicted before a general court-martial, of having taken money, 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 suffer such other penalty as he is liable to by the said act. ”

“ The raising of the immense volunteer force necessitated a great increase in the staff departments, and large numbers of persons from civil life have been appointed into the volunteer staff in the Adjutant-General's, Judge-Advocate's, Quartermaster's, Commissary, Medical, and Pay Departments. The ordnance duties are performed by officers detailed from the line, and engineer duties by regiments assigned for that purpose. A large number of additional aides-de-camp were also authorized, forming that branch of duty into a department. ”

“ These [Pg 34] hands—the hands of men, women and children—are placed in rows before the Commissary, who counts them to see the soldiers have not wasted the cartridges. The Commissary is paid a commission of about a penny per pound upon all the rubber he gets; it is, therefore, to his interest to get as much as he can. ”

“ Not only in every regiment, but in every detachment of the United States’ Army, officers are detailed for these special purposes, with a staff of subordinates selected from the ranks, and directly responsible to the head-quarters of their respective departments. The commissary receives from thence and issues to the troops clothing and subsistence stores. ”

“ In cases of disobedience, disrespect, hindrance, and obstruction to the free and just exercise of the Holy Office, which also are wont to occur, the commissary shall be careful not to lose his temper, or to give way to words or deeds injurious and offensive to any person ”

“ Then all three of them drew pistols out of their pockets, and the commissary said calmly: "We come in the name of the law. If you do not respect it yourselves, would you prevent others from enforcing it? It may cost the lives of six of you, if you oblige us to carry out the law by force." ”

“ The commissary department was open to us. Their troops guarded us, and we reconnoitred, surveyed, located, and built inside of their picket-line. We marched to work by the tap of the drum with our men armed. They stacked their arms on the dump, and were ready at a moment's warning to fall in and fight for their territory. ”

“ Look at the quartermaster’s department,—the commissary department,—the State department, and the war department, and you will everywhere find the proofs of utter incompetence, leading straight, as I have before remarked, to that ruin which is pending at the present moment over the country. Our society is uprooted, and there is no hope for the country. Blockade-runners, forestallers, stragglers from the army—Good morning, Colonel Desperade; I was just speaking to our friend, Colonel Surry. ”

“ At the word “artist” the Commissary had replaced his hat with the air of a person who, having condescended too far, should suddenly remember the duties of his rank.
“Go, go,” said he, “I am busy; I am measuring butter.”
“Heathen Jew!” thought Léon. “Permit me, sir,” he resumed, aloud. “I have gone six times already—“
“Put up your bills if you choose,” interrupted the Commissary. “In an hour or so I will examine your papers at the office. But now go; I am busy.”
“Measuring butter!” thought Berthelini. ”

“ In an army in active service, the position of a commissary affords him an opportunity, if he is so inclined, to carefully observe, if not military operations, at least the strange country to which the war has brought him. ”

“ We give shelter to any one who—"
Commissary. "Ah, you should beware, for the law is very severe in this particular. It is a subject on which there is no joking! You would subject yourselves to very severe punishment; for a man condemned to capital punishment, it would be nothing less than——"
Husband (quickly) . "We are not afraid of that, monsieur commissaire."
Commissary. "I believe you, and rely on you. However, that I may have nothing to reproach myself with, you will permit me to make a slight search, just a simple formality. ”

“ Commissary,' said I, 'one of your frigates captured the English cutter Nelson some time ago, but the capture was not complete.'
"'How so?' inquired the commissary.
"'Because, Mr. Commissary,' said I, 'you did not capture the boatswain, and a British ship without a boatswain is no good; it is like a body without a soul.'
"'Is that all you have to tell me?' said the commissary, looking glum. ”

“ The commissary shall issue orders entrusting the matter, as is customary, to some one of the familiars whom he has to keep in the city. Until he has familiars, for lack of them he shall entrust it to the person on whom he has most reliance, and in whose integrity he most confides. When it is necessary, but only then, he may ask for the aid of the royal officials of justice. Whenever this shall be necessary, the royal officials may seize only the person pointed out to them by the Holy Office; and they must assist him, giving their favor and aid only for such person. ”

“ There were the two figures before the Commissary’s house, each bolt upright, with head thrown back and eyes interrogating the starry heavens; the guitar wailed, shouted, and reverberated like half an orchestra; and the voices, with a crisp and spirited delivery, hurled the appropriate burden at the Commissary’s window. All the echoes repeated the functionary’s name. It was more like an entr’acte in a farce of Molière’s than a passage of real life in Castel-le-Gâchis. ”

“ Not for any one. What do you mean by that?”
“I thought it was the commissary,” said the boy.
“Ah, sapperment! I knew we were in a droll neighborhood,” murmured the driver. “It would seem they never see a cabriolet here except when it brings the commissaire de police to look after some one.” ”

“ For if the Cigarette was surprised to be arrested, the Commissary was no less taken aback by the appearance and appointments of his captive. Here was a man about whom there could be no mistake: a man of an unquestionable and unassailable manner, in apple-pie order, dressed not with neatness merely but elegance, ready with his passport at a word, and well supplied with money: a man the Commissary would have doffed his hat to on chance [Pg 132] upon the highway; and this beau cavalier unblushingly claimed the Arethusa for his comrade! ”

“ The duty is hard, and exercise increases the appetite. Will it not advance the service to send you down some biscuit? Give Commissary Leake no rest without vegetables. His guard will be relieved by a militia one. How many sergeants' parties have you? Your guard and that of the commissary will be taken from the brigades, as 120 from Paterson's is to 60 from the others. In returns, designate the strength from each brigade. The regiments whose men have no bayonets, some means will be devised to furnish them. Heavy packs should not be at the stated quarters. ”

“ To the left, well intrenched and guarded, lay the Commissariat Stores, on which so much depends when once the dogs of war are let loose. All men, irrespective of race or colour, fight, as did Napoleon’s soldiers, “on their stomachs;” but it is the European element which so taxes the hard-worked officials of the Commissariat department; they must have their daily rations of meat, bread, porter, tea, sugar and condiments, besides every kind of comfort, when lying sick or wounded. ”

“ Our officers, and the Executive, naturally feeling some degree of sympathy for a people thus driven from their homes, on whom the evils of war fell with so much force, extended to them every aid in their power. Some were employed in the Commissary’s Department; some as contractors for transporting provisions; and others as attendants upon the army in all the various departments of service, so numerous in a time of war. Even the slaves who remained in the service of their masters were employed by the officers as guides, interpreters and employees at high wages. ”

“ But the commissariat ought to be under the immediate superintendance of an officer of considerable abilities; possessing a mind capable of comprehending, and performing with accuracy his extensive part in all military combinations, for almost every thing in war depends upon the troops being regularly supplied with food. ”

“ Perseverance and patience could overcome the prevalent impression at the commissary that every new regiment was a set of unlawful intruders, to be starved out if possible, but could not conquer the difficulty of crowding material bodies into less space than they had been created to fill. ”

“ Just at that time, however, the officials of the commissary department saw fit to feed the whole army on bacon and flour, articles which, if given to troops in that quarter of the country at all, must be brought several hundred miles by rail. The local commissary officers made various suggestions looking to the use of the provisions of which the country round about was full, but, so far as I could learn, no attention whatever was paid to them. ”