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Transcription contributed by Arne H Trelvik on 12 June, 2003 |
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The History of Warren County Ohio |
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The Militia MusterVarious laws have been passed in Ohio for the purpose of organizing and drilling the militia, and all of them have proved ineffective. The first law proclaimed in the territory northwest of the Ohio was “An act for regulating and establishing the militia.” Up to the year 1833, twenty-two acts for this purpose had been enacted by the Territorial and State Legislatures, and all of them repealed, amended or superseded. These laws provided for dividing the State into military districts, for officering the militia, and that all persons subject to military duty should furnish themselves with arms and accouterments, and meet at specified times to be drilled in the art of war. There were to be company musters, regimental musters, battalion musters and brigade musters. Failure to attend the muster or to be properly armed subjected the offender to a fine. An old document in possession of the writer gives the proceedings of ”A Regimental Court of Inquiry of the First Regiment, Second Brigade, First Division of the Ohio Militia, held on Monday, the 20th day of September, 1819, at the house of Gen. David Sutton, in Deerfield, for the assessment of fines in said regiment.” Lieut. Col. William McLean was President, and thirteen Captains were members of the court. Over three hundred members of the regiment were fined in sums varying from 50 cents to $2.50. The whole system of militia training soon fell into general contempt. The general muster brought out a vast concourse of people; the day was a holiday for the lower classes, and the occasion of much intoxication and many brutal fights. For the purpose of a military drill it was worse than useless, and in 1844, the Legislature wisely abandoned the attempt of enforcing the performance of military duty in time of peace. Nothing was left of the old muster but a long list of high-sounding military titles – Generals, Colonels, Majors and Captains. Volunteer and independent military companies have been organized at various times, but they have generally been of short life. They often started out with an energy and spirit which carried their members for a time through the whole routine of drilling but a few months produced a loss of interest and laxity of discipline. The independent volunteer militia companies have been of considerable expense to the State and municipal governments, but their history in the past shows that no reliance can be placed upon them as permanent organizations of the militia. The ridiculous features of the old general muster were described in the famous speech of Thomas Corwin, in reply to Gen. Crary, of Michigan, delivered in the House of Representatives of Congress in 1840. The materials for this description were derived from what Corwin had seen at home, and there is a tradition that the orator, before the delivery of this speech in Congress, which gave him a national reputation as a wit, had employed the same weapons of satire, had used the same images and given the same description, in the court of a Justice of the Peace at his own home, while ridiculing a prosecuting witness who happened to be a pompous militia officer. Gen. Crary had undertaken to criticize the military
record of Gen. Harrison. His own military title was obtained
in the militia service. After ridiculing, |
Page 343 |
in his inimitable manner, the military knowledge of Gen.
Crary, derived from his law books, Corwin turned
to examine his knowledge derived from militia duty in the field:
“And glory, like the phoenix
in its fires, |
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6 November, 2005
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