# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/13th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 37

Chap. XXXVII.—An Act for the better organizing, paying, and supplying the army of the United States.
Act of March 3, 1815, ch. 78. Certain regiments composing a corps to be formed into battalions.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first, second, and third regiments of artillery be formed into one corps, and organized into twelve battalions, as follows, to wit: six lieutenant colonels, six majors, twelve adjutants, twelve quarter-masters, and forty-eight companies.
Component parts of companies.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That each company shall consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, two second lieutenants, one third lieutenant, five serjeant, one quarter-master’s serjeant, eight corporals, four musicians, and one hundred privates.
Particular duties assigned to one of the lieutenants of each companies. Their extra pay.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President be authorized to assign one of the two second lieutenants hereby provided for each company, as a conductor of artillery for said company, whose duty it shall be ​to receipt and account for all ammunition, implements, and cannon, furnished by the ordnance department for said company, and to do and perform such other services as the war department may direct; and that for the performance of these services they be allowed each ten dollars extra per month.
Two regiments of light dragoons formed into one.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of the two regiments of light dragoons now in service, there shall be organized one regiment, to consist of one colonel, one lieutenant colonel, two majors, one adjutant, one quartermaster, one surgeon, two surgeon’s mates, one serjeant-major, one quartermaster-serjeant, one principal musician, one principal farrier, and eight troops.
Component parts of each troop.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That each troop shall consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one third lieutenant, one cornet, five serjeants, eight corporals, one riding master, one master of the sword, two trumpeters or buglers, one farrier, one blacksmith, one saddler, and ninety-six privates.
Officers of the corps of artillery and light dragoons, their pay. Additional rations to subalterns of corps.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the corps of artillery, and the regiment of light artillery, shall severally receive the same pay as is now provided by law for the light dragoons in the service of the United States; and the subalterns of all other corps shall be allowed one ration in addition to the pay authorized by existing laws.
Allowances of blankets, &c. &c.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That there shall be allowed annually to each non-commissioned officer, musician and private in the corps of sea-fencibles one blanket, one knapsack and one canteen.
President to prescribe the kind and amount of clothing.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the President of the united States be, and he hereby is authorized to prescribe the quantity and kind of clothing to be issued annually to the troops of the United States.
Regulations concerning waiters to the officers, &c.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of June next, the officers of the army shall be entitled to waiters agreeable to grade, as follows:a major general, four waiters; a brigadier general, three; a colonel, two; the physician and surgeon general, two; a lieutenant colonel major, and hospital surgeon, each, one; the officers of each company, three; every commissioned officer who holds a staff appointment which gives the rank of captain, or any higher grade, one; and to every company officer who commands a separate post or detachment, one; any law or regulation heretofore existing to the contrary notwithstanding.
Further regulations.Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That no officer shall be permitted to employ as a servant any soldier from the line of the army, and that the servants of officers, not exceeding the number allowed by the preceding section, shall be mustered with some corps of the army, and that on the muster rolls formed in consequence thereof payments shall be made in money to the officers employing them in lieu of wages, subsistence and clothing, by the paymasters of the several corps or districts where such servants are mustered, at the rate allowed to privates of infantry, which shall be published to the army annually, by the Secretary for the department of war.
President may appoint assistant apothecaries. Their pay, &c.Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint so many assistant apothecaries as the service may, in his judgment, require: each of whom shall receive the same pay and emoluments as a regimental surgeon’s mate.
Promotions, how to be made.Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, promotions may be made through the whole army in its several lines of light artillery, light dragoons, artillery, infantry, and riflemen respectively; and that the relative rank of officers of the same grade, belonging to regiments or corps already authorized, or which may be engaged to serve for five years, or during the war, be equalized and settled by the war department, agreeably to the established rules;Act of June 26, ch. 108. and that so much of the act, entitled “An act for the more perfect organization of the army of the United States,” ​passed the twenty-sixth of June, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, as comes within the purview and meaning of this act, be, and the same is hereby repealed.
Deficient regiments may be consolidated.Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary expenses in the military establishment, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized, in case of failure in filling the rank and file of any regiment or regiments, to consolidate such deficient regiment or regiments, and discharge all supernumerary officers: Provided,Proviso. That officers so discharged shall be allowed, in addition to the mileage already authorized by law, three months’ pay to each.
Pay of non-commissioned officers, &c. &c. of the army and officers of the militia not affected by their captivity. Proviso.Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That every non-commissioned officer and private of the army, or officer, or non-commissioned officer, and private of any militia or volunteer corps, in the service of the United States, who has been, or who may be captured by the enemy, shall be entitled to receive during his captivity, notwithstanding the expiration of his term of service, the same pay, subsistence, and allowance to which he may be entitled whilst in the actual service of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to entitle any prisoner of war, of the militia, to the pay and compensation herein provided after the date of his parole, other than the travelling expenses allowed by law.
Five regiments not authorized may be enlisted for five years or during the war. Act of July 5, 1813, ch. 4.Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That the five regiment which, by the first section of an act, entitled “An act to amend the act in addition to the act, entitled ‘An act to raise an additional military force, and for other purposes,’” were authorized to be enlisted, at the discretion of the President of the United States, for and during the war, may be enlisted, at the option of the recruit, for five years, or for and during the war, unless sooner discharged; the provisions of the said act to the contrary notwithstanding.
Commissary general of ordnance may employ all needful aid in his department.Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That the commissary general of ordnance may employ in his department, besides blacksmith and wheelwrights, other mechanics, such as the public service may require, who shall, together with the said blacksmiths and wheelwrights, be mustered under the general denomination of artificers; and such artificers, being hereafter, or having been heretofore enlisted to serve for the term of five years, or during the war, shall be entitled to the same annual allowance of clothing as is or may be provided for the soldiers of the army.
Bounty and clothing to labourers in that department.Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That the labourers who may be hereafter enlisted to serve in the ordnance department, for the term of five years, or during the war, shall be entitled to a bounty of twenty-five dollars in money, and the same annual allowance of clothing as is or may be provided for the soldiers of the army.
Allowance in rations to the medical staff, and increase of pay to part.Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That the physician and the surgeon general of the army be entitled to two rations per day and forage for two horses; and that in addition to their pay, as at present established by law, the regimental surgeons and regimental surgeons’ mates be entitled to fifteen dollars per month each.
Aids-de-camp of major generals, &c. &c. from what part of the army to be drawn.Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That the aids-de-camp of major generals shall be taken from the captains and subalterns of the line; and the aids-de-camp of brigadier generals from the subalterns of the line; and that it shall not be lawful to take more than one aid-de-camp from a regiment.
District pay and quartermasters.Sec. 20. And be it further enacted, That in no case shall the district paymasters of quartermasters of any grade be taken from the line of the army.
Officers of volunteer corps may be promoted in the line of the army. Act of Feb. 24, 1814, ch. 15.Sec. 21. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the volunteer corps, authorized by the act of the twenty-fourth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, be entitled to promotion in the line of the army; and that the President of the United States, with the ​advice and consent of the Senate, be authorized to make all necessary appointments, and to fill all vacancies, which may happen in the same.
Approved, March 30, 1814.