A military dictionary

by William Duane

When officers died in a garrison town or upon a march, or when engineers, who had no particular fixed residence, or artillery officers that were upon leave, departed this life, the town-majors or aid-major of the towns or places, where such persons died, fixed their seals upon their effects. An inventory of these effects was afterwards taken, provided they were not claimed by the next heir; in which latter case, all the debts that had been contracted by the deceased in the place where he died, were ordered to be paid by the person who took possession of the property. Public notice was given by beat of drum, that a military sale would be made, and one sol in the livre was charged on all that was disposed of in this manner.

The man who beat the drum, and the person who enregistered the minutes of the sale, were paid out of this sol; whatever surplus remained, after a reasonable deduction had been made for these purposes, became the town-major’s property.

The produce of the sale was appropriated to the discharge of such debts as had been contracted in the garrison: and the judge or magistrate, whose particular province it was to take cognizance of all cases relating to property, placed his seal upon the remainder, which was deposited in a box. This box was delivered over to the person that had enregistered the effects and taken minutes of the sale; in whose hands it remained until claimed by the widow of the deceased, the residuary legatee, or by any creditors, except those who immediately belonged to the garrison.

When a captain in the French guards died or was killed, his heirs or executors were not obliged to discharge any demands which his company might have had upon him. If the sale of his private property should not be sufficient to defray these debts, the officer who succeeds to the company is bound to make up the remainder, and the soldier’s claim has the preference of all other demands. If there was an overplus, it was paid into the hands of the lawful heirs. The soldiers of the company received the moiety of what was due to them in ready money.

On the decease or departure of the officers belonging to any of the detached companies of invalids, the superior officer of that detachment in which the death or dereliction happened, ordered every article belonging to the royal hospital of invalids to be sold in the presence of the several officers, without deducting the sol in the livre. The produce of this sale was placed to the credit of the detachment; and all other articles belonging to the deceased were disposed of by the town-majors in the manner already mentioned.

The powers which were vested in the town-majors and staff-officers belonging to garrisoned places, were lodged in the hands of the majors or aid-majors of regiments, who upon the decease of an officer on service or in a place where there was not any staff, took a regular inventory of his effects, &c.

Town-majors were not authorized to put their seals upon the effects of deceased officers belonging to the Swiss regiments, as these had a peculiar military jurisdiction of their own. But other foreign troops in the service of France were not entitled to these privileges.

INVENTORY of deceased officers effects, &c. In the British army, when any commissioned officer happens to die or is killed on service, it is directed by the articles of war, that the major of the regiment, or the officer doing the major’s duty in his absence, shall immediately secure all his effects or equipage then in camp or quarters; and shall before the next regimental court-martial make an inventory thereof, and forthwith transmit the same to the office of our secretary at war, to the end, that the executors of such officer may, after payment of his regimental debts and quarters, and the expences attending his interment, receive the overplus, if any be, to his or their use.

When any non-commissioned officer or private soldier, happens to die, or is killed on service, the then commanding officer of the troop or company, shall, in the presence of two other commissioned officers, take an account of whatever effects he dies possessed of, above his regimental clothing, arms, and accoutrements, and transmit the same to the office of the secretary at war. These effects are to be accounted for and paid to the representatives of such deceased non-commissioned officer or soldier; and in case any of the officers so authorized to take care of the effects of dead officers and soldiers, should, before they have accounted to their representatives for the same, have occasion to leave the regiment by preferment or otherwise, they are ordered before they be permitted to quit the same, to deposit in the hands of the commanding officer or of the agent of the regiment, all the effects of such deceased non-commissioned officers and soldiers, in order, that the same may be secured for, and paid to, their respective representatives. See Articles of War, section XIX.

To INVEST a place, (investir une place, Fr.) A fortified town or place is said to be invested, when all the avenues leading to it have been seized upon by hostile troops, which are distributed and posted on the principal commands, to prevent any succour from being received by the garrison, and to keep the ground until the rest of the army with the artillery, can arrive to form a regular siege. To invest a place is, in fact, to take preparatory measures for a blockade, or a close siege. In order to do this effectually, the general in chief of the approaching army must detach a large body of cavalry, together with the different corps of dragoons under the command of a lieutenant-general, for the purpose of regularly investing the town. As secrecy is of the utmost consequence on this occasion, the troops belonging to the detachment must have their march so managed as to create an alarm and jealousy in some other quarter, by deviating from the road which leads directly to the proposed object of attack. The general, indeed, would act wisely, by giving written sealed orders to the commanding officer, with strict injunctions not to open them until the detachment should have reached a certain spot, and then only in the presence of some particular persons; by which means his real designs may be concealed. Sometimes a place is partially invested, for the sole purpose of diverting the enemy’s attention from the real object, and of inducing him to weaken the garrison, by detaching it to different quarters. Thus in 1710, the allied army suddenly appeared before the town of Ypres, and by threatening to besiege it, caused so many troops to be detached from Tournay to its relief, that the latter place, which was the real object of attack, and was one of the strongest towns in the Low Countries, afforded little or no resistance.