Militia officer

“ That every noncommissioned officer and private soldier of the said militia not under the controul of parents, masters or guardians, and being of sufficient ability therefor in the judgment of the Selectmen of the town in which he shall dwell, shall equip himself, and be constantly provided with a good fire arm, etc. ”

“ Each Militiaman called out for actual service shall attend at such time and place as may be required by the Officer commanding him, with any arms, accoutrements, ammunition and equipment he has received, and with such provisions as such officer may direct. ”

“ Any Officer commanding a Corps of Militia, who shall knowingly claim pay on account of any drills performed with his Corps, for any man belonging to any other Corps of Militia, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall likewise be liable to be tried and punished by Court Martial;
Including men not duly enrolled. and any Officer commanding a Corps of Militia, who shall include in any parade state or other Return, any man not duly enrolled and attested as a Militiaman, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be likewise liable to be tried and punished by Court Martial ”

“ That the troops of the militia encamped at any military post or camp of the United States may be furnished such amounts of ammunition for instruction in firing and target practice as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War, and such instruction in firing shall be carried on under the direction of an officer selected for that purpose by the proper military commander. ”

“ Any Militiaman who when called out for actual service, shall without leave absent himself from his Corps, for a longer period than seven days, may be tried by Militia Court Martial as a deserter.
Provision for family of men killed. 68. When any Officer or man is killed in actual service, of dies from wounds or disease contracted on actual service, provision shall be made for his wife and family out of the public funds:
And for men permanently disabled. ”

“ Therefore, we have in the United States to-day a regular Army of 48,000, and 60,000 militia ready for duty, or 108,000 men and officers altogether. In time of war not a man of our militia could well be spared for military service to repel an invader, for in such troublesome times they would all be needed for police duty to maintain order and obedience throughout the country. ”

“ That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well-regulated militia, including the body of the people capable of bearing arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state.
That the militia should not be subject to martial law, except in time of war, rebellion, or insurrection. ”

“ They are well disciplined, clothed, and fed; and having for the most part seen seven years' hard service, I believe they may be counted equal to any troops in the world. Our militia are in excellent order, and chiefly disciplined by officers who have left the regular service. ”

“ Marching under the same leader, toward the same goal, do they not also belong to the active armed force? I will go further. I will say that in America, where the entire armed forces are made ​​up of volunteers during peacetime, the militia is the sole and true raised by conscription, and therefore the true regular army. ”

“ The main reliance of this country for defence is, and ever must be, the militia. Anything, therefore, which tends to prejudice the militia, or the mass of the people, against the army, should be cautiously avoided, as it is essential to have them act in concert and harmony. ”

“ Daniel Gros, [FN] writing to General Clinton from Canajoharie, upon the importance of having at least a small detachment of regular troops at Fort Rensselaer, observed—"It would serve to bring spirit, order, and regularity into our militia, where authority and subordination have vanished. If it should last a little longer, the shadow of it will dwindle away; and perhaps the best men in the state will be useless spectators of all the havoc the enemy is meditating against the country. The militia appears to me to be a body without a soul. ”

“ So I and my three riflemen fell in as the troops tramped past; and I, for one, was astonished to hear their drums beating so loudly in the enemy's country, and to observe the careless indiscipline in the ranks, where men talked loudly and their reckless laughter often sounded above the steady rolling of the drums.
"Are there no officers here to cuff their ears!" muttered Mount, in disgust.
"Bah!" sneered Elerson; "officers can't teach militia--only a thrashing does 'em any good. After all, our people are like the British, full o' contempt for untried enemies. ”

“ Lexicographers and others define militia, and so the common understanding is, to be 'a body of armed citizens trained to military duty, who may be called out in certain cases, but may not be kept on service like standing armies, in time of peace.' That is the case as to the active militia of this State. The men comprising it come from the body of the militia, and when not engaged at stated periods in drilling and other exercises, they return to their usual avocations, as is usual with militia, and are subject to call when the public exigencies demand it. ”

“ But in June less than one-twelfth of the volunteers had been enrolled, and whether the states would heed the call upon them for militia, or whether the militia when raised would serve beyond the frontier, no one yet knew.
[543] On the state of the army at this time see McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III, chap, xxiii; Adams, op. cit., VI, chap, xiv; Babcock, op. cit., chap. v.
The main reliance of the Americans must obviously be the militia. ”

“ Since the Civil War many, perhaps most, Regular Army officers had believed that the militia was incompetent and unreliable, and this belief remained strong after passage of the Militia Act. Harsh and sometimes unreasonable criticism by Regulars angered Guard officers working hard to improve their units. Many Guard officers continued to see the increasing federal regulation of the militia as an unwarranted intrusion into what had traditionally been state and local matters. ”

“ This action, although it subjects Colonel Davie to the charge of temerity, only to be excused by the event, and a zeal which we are always ready to applaud, furnishes a striking instance of the bravery and importance of the American militia. Few instances can be shown where any troops, who in one action, changed their position twice in good order, although pressed by superior force, and charged three times by cavalry, thrice their own number, unsupported, in presence of an enemy's whole army, and finally retreating in perfect order. ”

“ Without discipline firmly administered, and regulations founded on a just appreciation of the difficulties and ends of a soldier's life, a militia organization only tends to give a false idea of the duties of a soldier, and is totally useless for the purposes of war or police.... During the periods of drill, the English militia man is placed on almost the same footing as the regular soldier ”

“ The Corps composing the Active Militia shall be liable to be called out with their arms and ammunition in aid of the Civil Power in ease of riot or other emergency requiring such services, whether such riot or emergency occurs within or without the Municipality in which such Corps is raised or organized ”

“ Can all your wisdom direct their strength, courage or activity to any given point? Would not the least disappointment or unfavourable aspect cause a general dereliction of the service? Your new-fangled militia have already given us a specimen of their future conduct. In some of their companies, they have already chosen two, in others, three sets of officers, and are as dissatisfied with the last choice as the first. I do not doubt the natural bravery of my countrymen; all men would act the same part in the same situation. ”

“ Where will be the boasted militia of the gentleman? Can one million of militia be overpowered by thirty thousand regulars? If so, how can we rely on them against a foe invading our country? Sir, I have no such contemptuous idea of our militia—their untaught bravery is sufficient to crush all foreign and internal attempts on their country's liberties. But we have not yet come to the end of the chapter of dangers. The gentleman's imagination, so fruitful on this subject, conceives that our constitution is not calculated for war, and that it cannot stand its rude shock. ”

“ We could not supply the men for the necessary field-artillery organization for four months, or the ammunition trains and ammunition for a year and a half, and not a gun is yet made or appropriated for, for the volunteers. The militia is short in cavalry and requires over fifty additional troops of cavalry to provide the divisional cavalry alone. ”

“ Whether merited or unmerited, it cannot be denied that the people, and especially that portion of them which compose the militia, look upon West Point, and West Point officers, with great disfavor; they are specially unpopular. If war should occur, and the army and militia be brought in contact, the most disastrous consequences might ensue from their dissensions. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to induce the militia to volunteer their services when they would be placed under the command of the cadets. ”

“ We are doing all we can on this side to counteract his views, and the arrival this morning of the Royal George and the vessels under her convoy, bringing various pieces of ordnance, will give us in this respect a decided superiority.
The militia, which assembled here immediately on the account being received of war being declared by the United States, have been improving daily in discipline; but the men evince a degree of impatience under their present restraint, that is far from inspiring confidence. ”

“ In another way, also, the war will prove a drawback upon forming an effective militia system. We shall have, for some years to come, no class disposed to take a very hearty part in it. For a returned soldier to find pleasure in drilling is as if a wood-sawyer, at the close of his week's work, should bring his tools into his sitting-room, and saw for fun. On the other hand, those who have not served in the army will feel some natural sensitiveness about playing soldier in presence of veterans, and being satirized, perhaps, as a mere home-guard. ”

“ It is not a little remarkable that though the first Presidents in emphatic language from time to time recommended a thorough organization of the militia as one of the most important duties of the government, but little more has yet been done than to make provisions for supplying them with arms, and for calling them out when required for federal purposes. ”

“ In the first place, the corps of militia must hereafter be composed of a very inferior description of men to what they were of old; and flogging must, as a matter of course, be persevered in; but why in these times are the militia to be embodied and badly trained at a considerable and unnecessary expense to the country; for it is quite time enough to think of calling out this force when the country may be threatened by an enemy with invasion; for with the fine regular army I have in view, the tranquillity of the United Kingdom can be completely secured ”

“ Every year enlistments fall far below the adequate figure because young men in business and professional life deem it obnoxious to leave their appointed tasks to do a professional policeman’s work. In the discussion of “preparedness” measures it has frequently been proposed that the militia be enlisted solely for national defense and that a special fighting force be developed for state police duty. If such a [Pg 140] force were organized on a permanent basis it would practically relieve the sheriff and the constables from police duty. ”

“ This latter system, consecrated by the German successes of 1870, became the universal model for the Continent of Europe, and organized and self-contained militias to-day are only to be found in states maintaining first line armies of “general service” professionals, or in states which maintain no first line troops whatever. ”

“ It requires the strictest and sternest discipline of the regular soldier, to obey the command after he has been struck or knocked, to refrain from resistance. The militiaman is not paid for it; he carries his humanity into the ranks, and when he is struck he resists. What our militia did here, they did in Baltimore, they did all over the country, and they would do again under similar circumstances. The question of their firing without orders, is a thing you never can provide against with militia. ”

“ Who are militia? Can we depend solely upon these? I will pay the last tribute of gratitude to the militia of my country: they performed some of the most gallant feats during the last war, and acted as nobly as men inured to other avocations could be expected to do; but, sir, it is dangerous to look to them as our sole protectors. Did ever militia defend a country? Those of Pennsylvania were said to differ very little from regulars; yet these, sir, were insufficient for the defence of that state. The militia of our country will be wanted for agriculture. ”

“ The troops draughted, must be thrown into battalions, and officered in the best possible manner. The best supernumerary officers may be made use of as far as they will go. If arms are wanted for their troops, and no better way of supplying them is to be found, we should endeavor to levy a contribution of arms upon the militia at large. ”

“ The recruits whom we are expecting, and who only bear, in truth, the name of recruits, have frequently fought battles in the same regiments which they are now re-entering, and have seen more gun-shots than three-fourths of the European soldiers. As to the militia, they are only armed peasants, who have occasionally fought, and who are not deficient in ardour and discipline, but whose services would be most useful in the labours of a siege. ”