GEORGIA MILITIA Chatham Militia 1835 Legislation 1st Regiment ***************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm *********************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Galileo http://www.galileo.usg.edu/ Act/Resolution 2 of 2 ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE AT AN ANNUAL SESSION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1835. ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA. PASSED IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1835. MILITIA. 1835 Vol. 1 -- Page: 149 Sequential Number: 093 Full Title: AN ACT to amend the Militia Laws of the State of Georgia, so far as relates to the first regiment of Georgia Militia, and to regulate the duties and qualifications of the field, staff, commissioned, and non-commissioned officers of the same, their exemptions, and the duties of the superintendant of the arsenal in the city of Savannah, and salary for extra duties imposed by this act, and the parades of the beat companies of said regiment. Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passage of this act, there shall be four annual parades of the beat companies of the first regiment, to take place as follows, viz. the first beat company shall parade on the first Mondays in every December, February, April and June, annually. The second beat company shall parade on the Tuesdays following, in each of said months. The third beat company shall parade on the Wednesdays following in each of said months. And the fourth beat company shall parade on the Thursdays following in each of said months. The said parades shall commence at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and shall continue from ten o'clock to one o'clock on each of said days, and until the companies shall be dismissed, upon delivery of arms, as prescribed in the third section of this act. They shall be superintended by a field officer of the first regiment, the field officers to serve in turn, according to the commanding field officer's muster, and the superintending officer shall be empowered to drill the companies, if in his judgment necessary for instruction. The same orders shall be issued by the commanding officers of companies, the same summonses sued, and the same penalties incurred, as in other cases of default, after regimental orders. Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That regimental courts of inquiry shall be held at such places, within the first regiment, as the commanding field officer shall designate in orders, in each December, February, April and June, in each year, to try defaulters at the foregoing parades; to which courts of inquiry returns of defaulters shall be made by the commanding officers of beat companies, as returns are now made by law to other regimental courts of inquiry. The same mode of collection of fines shall be observed as is now provided by the militia laws for regimental fines. The commanding field officer shall designate, in orders, some staff officer to attend the foregoing parades, to note defaulting officers, and make return of them to the regimental courts of inquiry. The penalties collected shall be paid into the regimental fund, out of which shall be defrayed all the expenses of music, &c., now authorized by law for the beat company parades; the account to be presented by the commanding officers of beat companies to the regimental courts, and audited by them. Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the superintendant of the State arsenal at Savannah, to deliver to the respective beat companies, on the morning of each parade, at the arsenal, to which the beat companies shall be marched for the purpose, a sufficient number of muskets, with necessary equipments, to arm all the men on parade; and the commanding officers of beat companies are hereby authorised to apply at the arsenal, to the superintendant, for arms and equipments for their parades. The arms and equipments shall be returned at the arsenal to the superintendant, whose duty it shall be to receive the same, immediately on the termination of each parade, the companies to be marched to the arsenal for that purpose, and not to be dismissed until the arms and equipments are delivered. In consideration of the additional labours of the superintendant, in the delivery and receipt of the arms, and in keeping them in order, he shall receive the sum of one hundred dollars annually, to be paid out of the regimental fund, and to be a charge upon said fund, in preference of all other demands. The provisions of this section shall apply also to all regimental and battalion parades in the first regiment. Sec. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That as an inducement to competent persons to take commissions in the said beat companies, the commissioned officers of beat companies shall be, and they are hereby declared to be exempt, during the time they shall hold their commissions and shall faithfully perform their duty, from all manner of jury duty within the county of Chatham and city of Savannah: Provided, nevertheless, that no officer as aforesaid shall continue entitle to such exemption unless he shall obtain, within the month of January in each and every year, a certificate of his faithful conduct as such from the commanding officer of the regiment, and have such certificate duly recorded, within the same month in each and every year, in the office of the clerk of the superior court of Chatham county, for recording of which certificate the said clerk shall be entitled to receive from such officer of beat company the sum of fifty cents. Any officer aforesaid who shall serve for and during the term of five years, and shall regularly obtain and register his certificate as aforesaid, shall thereafter be exempt from all ordinary militia duty in the first regiment. Sec. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That non-commissioned officers in beat companies who shall faithfully perform their duty as such for one year, and shall obtain a certificate to that effect from the commanding officer of the regiment, shall be thereafter exempt from ordinary militia duty within the first regiment for one year. No non-commissioned officer removing from one beat into another shall thereby be exonerated from his duty as such in the beat in which he may have been drawn; nor shall he be relieved by joining a volunteer company: Provided, nevertheless, that the commanding officers of beat companies may accept substitutes for non- commissioned officers, who shall be entitled on the same terms to the same exemptions, and liable to the same penalties. Sec. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That to prevent as far as may be the commissions granted by the State from being used for the purpose of exemption in other States from military duty, no person shall be qualified to hold a commission in the first regiment, either as a field officer or an officer of beat company, unless he shall have been a citizen of the United States, resident within the first regiment, at least two years before his election or appointment. Sec. 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That for the trial of any commissioned company or staff officer, within the first regiment, the number of members of a court martial shall not exceed ten, nor be less than seven, to be designated by the brigadier-general of the first brigade, as prescribed by law, from among the officers of the first regiment. The pay of each member of the court shall be two dollars per day, to be certified and paid as in other cases of courts martial, under the general militia law of the State. JOSEPH DAY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ROBERT M. ECHOLS, President of the Senate. WILLIAM SCHLEY, Governor. Approval Date: Assented to, 21st Dec. 1835.