Court Martial proceedings

[2nd Lt. Samuel Teague]

Ladies and gentlemen of the forum,

Could anyone point me in the direction of materials regarding the appropriate 1860's procedures for a court martial trial (US and CS)? A group of friends I have would like to create a demonstration of how this looked for the public, and I would like to make sure we are authentically and accurately demonstrating this very serious event. Thank you for any help you can offer.

~Matt Wood

[Silas]

Re: Court Martial proceedings

A Treatise on Military Law and the Practice of Courts-martial By Stephen Vincent Benét, Capt. of Ordnance, U.S. Army. 5th Edition (New York, 1866).

[rebel7458]

Re: Court Martial proceedings

How deep do you want to go? Is this going to be a “run-of-the-mill” scofflaw that has been drunk or struck an officer, or is he guilty of a capital offense? First of all, the requirements and proceedings are listed and described in
a. Revised United States Army Regulations Of 1861, Art. XXXVIII (link to an online version - http://www.usregulars.com/library.htm) and
b. Regulations for the Army of the Confederacy (pps. 858 to 1024) – (while I don’t have a link handy for the Confederate Reg’s, they’re almost identical since they were basically lifted from the U.S. Army Reg’s.

Kautz' Customs of Service for Officers of the Army (1864) – also goes into great detail. He has an entire chapter entitled Military Justice where he describes the various types. “Courts-Martial are of two kinds, General Court-Martial and Regimental or Garrison Court-Martial, or Field Officer’s Court. The last mentioned have the same jurisdiction, which is limited; but they differ in organization according as the officers comprising the court, and men to be tried are of the same or different Regiments”.

If you’re portraying one in the field (some scofflaw who violates an Article of War, such as striking an officer), you’ll probably want to follow the Regimental or Garrison, since a “General Court-Martial must be ordered, either by the President or Secretary of War, or a General commanding a separate Army, or a Colonel commanding a Department, or, in time of war, the Commander of a Division or separate Brigade (Act. Dec. 24, 1861)”. Kautz always has good information in his Customs, either for the Officer or the NCO’s.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Court Martial proceedings

To the excellent sources already cited, I'd like to add the General Orders of the War Department, 1861-1863, available on Google Books.

http://books.google.com/books?id=vGUkOckEzgsC&pg=RA1-PA1&dq=general+orders+of&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0

You can go straight there or via Silas's web site, which has the advantage of showing you all sorts of other neat sources.

While the General Orders contain much of purely administrative interest, they also contain detailed reviews and discussions of significant court martial decisions. For example, General Orders 1-4 of 1861, at the very beginning of the volume cited, show that as the nation was in the process of falling apart, the War Department was busily investigating the implications of a quartermaster's issuance of false vouchers, an officer's allegedly abusive conduct to one of his men, a drunken officer, and an artilleryman who shot at his corporal, saying, "You son of a bitch, I will shoot you yet before I leave Texas."

Good stuff.

[OlszowyTM]

Re: Court Martial proceedings

"I would like to make sure we are authentically and accurately demonstrating this very serious event. "

You will find all the accurate & authentic scenarios you might desire in the Records of Courts Martial Proceedings at the National Archives. Best part is there really is no creative thinking required to execute because within the records are the appointment orders of the the Board, the questions asked, the responses tendered, the verdict and punishments.