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    To Be Tried By . . .
    To Be Tried By . . .
    To Be Tried By . . .
    Ebook101 pages1 hour

    To Be Tried By . . .

    By Arlene Andrews

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This short book takes a look at the American Indian Wars era Army, and the Courts-Martial that went on. Being a newly-opened area, there were few luxuries, and this would cause the recruits, and even some of the officers, to act in a manner that the Army simply could not tolerate.
    The Articles of War, updated during this period, allowed for Courts to be held more frequently, and to attempt to ensure the punishments meted out to the wrongdoers were not excessive. The attempt was noble, and we have the benefit of it today.
    However, during this time, we show that the punishments, even for similar crimes varies widely from fort to fort. We also take a look at the timing of the offences selected, and show some reasons that the crimes may have been spurred by factors other than boredom.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArlene Andrews
    Release dateJan 18, 2017
    ISBN9781370234462
    To Be Tried By . . .
    Author

    Arlene Andrews

    Kenneth Andrews (1932-2015). Currently edited and published in ebook format by Arlene Andrews, whose web site is listed above.Many areas of expertise, including the privileged of having the few physical copies of "They Tried" being stocked by Fort Laramie, at which we spent many, many pleasurable, learning-filled hours.The books, which will come out at random times, are mostly based on research done at local Indian Wars forts, as well as from experiences int he classroom and in fraternal organizations.

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      Book preview

      To Be Tried By . . . - Arlene Andrews

      To Be Tried By . . .

      A Comparison of Sentencing

      between 1870 – 1890

      including

      Articles of War Standards

      and

      Instructions to Courts

      By Kenneth D. Andrews

      and

      M.A. Andrews

      Copyright 2010 by Kenneth D Andrews

      First printing 2010

      Second printing 2014

      Smashwords Edition 2017, edited by M. A. Andrews

      Table of Contents

      Preface

      Introduction

      Acknowledgments

      History and Setting

      Courts

      Violations

      Guardhouses

      Reviews of General Courts-Martial

      Comments on the Reviews

      APPENDIX I

      APPENDIX II

      BIBLIOGRAPHY

      Preface:

      Thank you for downloading this ebook. This work remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be distributed to others for either commercial or non-commercial use. If you enjoy this ebook, please encourage others to download their own copy from a favorite authorized retailer. Your support is important to ensuring that the vast amount of material used in the production of this ebook, and others soon to come, is acknowledged and appreciated.

      The years of 1870 to 1890, covered in this piece, reflect the challenges of life in a newly-opened area, still struggling with the changes brought on by the Civil War. The railroad is being run, and herds of bison still roam the plains. This is a land of opportunity, and not always the opportunities that are shown in fiction.

      Some of the young men who signed up to join the Army had a history behind them: possibly one of theft, or other crimes. Some were farm boys, who wanted the glory of the uniform. And others may simply have had a wanderlust that the many open acres of land in the West could satisfy.

      To those of you who had the privilege of a personal acquaintance with my father, Ken Andrews, you know or suspect that he and I never saw eye-to-eye on the formatting of this book. In order for this text to reach the wider audience that the many years of research- selecting cases, reviewing the many spools of microfilm that these cases had been made available to him on, and the conclusions that he reached, in this and other works, I have restrained my editing only to format, and a very few words misspelled in the text.

      Many of the misspelling you see here are as they were written in the actual courts-martial documentation. The wide range of education, even for officers, shows itself in the handwriting of these court reporters, and occasionally provided a problem in knowing exactly what the officer meant.

      Enjoy the book, and the look back at a influential area in the treatment of the military in a environment that was not anything like most of them had seen, and its place in the history of the American West.

      INTRODUCTION

      "Desertion is one of the most heinous and disgraceful of military crimes: involving an entire loss of personnel and soldierly honor"

      -Comment, 1871

      What price the loss of a man? Only those whose lives depend upon the presence of everyone in a campaign in hostile territory can tell. Yet it is the problem of every military officer from the time of the very earliest military actions to the present day modern warfare campaigns. How do we put a value on men and equipment?

      During the time of the Indian Wars there were great losses of both men and equipment, some from actual battle and more, it seems, from either the voluntary absence of the soldier or theft and sale of equipment and supplies issued for duty troops. What is the effect of those missing to meeting the needs of the Army and the goals of the field actions? How much of a loss can be taken without the value and moral of the troops being affected? How do we prevent the loss of equipment and personnel or punish those that voluntarily take the equipment and supplies needed to do our job?

      The decisions of the General Courts-Martial show some of the actions taken to punish those that violated the Articles of War and how they were punished for those violations. How effective was the punishment? The desertion rate in the Army of this time seems to indicate that any punishments were not a major deterrent to desertion. If you were caught, you paid the price of leaving, if not caught, you got away with it and went onto other things in your life. The low pay of the enlisted man and the frequent isolation often led to leaving of the Army for a better life.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      My thanks to the people who have encouraged me to write these commentaries about the Indian Wars era Army, the problems with military discipline during the period 1866-1890, and to review what consistencies there were in sentencing and confinement as reported in the various Courts Martial Orders in the Department of the Missouri. Most of the orders were executed and heard at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and there were sometimes more than one Court in session to hear the trials.

      No acknowledgment would be complete without a special mention of a good friend and thought provoker of material to write. I spent many informative and happy hours with Don Rickey, Jr as we talked about life on the Western Frontier and the life of the soldier of the time and the enjoyment of his books.

      To the personnel of the Wyoming State Library who have given me many hours of research tips and copies: Without them much of this would never be here.

      To Barid Todd and Sandra Lowrey of Fort Laramie for the hours of help and their research assistance and Baird's evaluation of this manuscript.

      Special thanks go to the people at the National Archives Record Group 94 for the research and information given me and for the many copies they made.

      Ken Andrews

      July, 2010

      HISTORY AND SETTING

      The Articles of War are compiled of laws that govern all soldiers, both officers and enlisted men. These articles of War were most likely taken from the British rules on how the military should operate and, as revised and updated, were passed by the Congress in 1806 and remained in effect until the Manual for Courts-Martial was adopted in 1951. With new revision and updating of existing practices during the Civil War and the later Spanish-American War these 101 Articles of War guided the military in it operations and actions. Two major supplements to the Articles of War provided consistency in execution by establishing the three type of Courts shortly after the Civil Ware and the sentencing guidelines of 1890.

      Of those Articles violations were specific and included the common article desertion, frequently the article most violated, but also such violations as insubordination, sleeping on post, and drunkenness. To cover many of the other violations that occurred the sixty-second article was established. This article was designed to cover those not specified in the Articles and was entitled prejudicial to good order and military discipline. Also by regulation, the articles were to be read to all members of the army each six months.

      Discipline in the Army has nearly always been difficult, but in the Indian Wars era, the job was more of a challenge. The soldier was isolated, bored, harassed, and not well paid. The officers in charge of new recruits often did have neither the time nor the skills to train recruits properly, nor the ammunition to teach them to defend themselves.

      Aside from hard, tedious labor needed to maintain the fort and its people, there was little to keep a man active and happy. Desertion and drink seemed to be the things that caused many problems for both the officers and soldiers.

      Discipline in the Army was based on

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