Military Dictionary

This illustrated dictionary addresses all subjects of interest to an officer of the U.S. Army during the Civil War. It contains a large number of definitions relating to civil and military law and government based on the works of Bouvier, De Hart, Dunlop, Guillot, Pendergast, Vattel, Wheaton and others. An 1863 reissue of a work first published in 1861, it encapsulates the state of legal knowledge as it was understood by the American military before it was confronted by the complications wrought by the Civil War and the reforms effected by Lieber's code. Topics include artillery, Articles of War, booty, court martial forms, defence (national), evidence, execution of laws, field works, injuries (liability for private injuries), law (martial), ordnance, pay, reconoissance, rifle ordnance, roads, Secretary of War, sieges, trials, volunteers, war, warrant, wills. It is also interesting for its inclusion of medical remedies and recipes used to feed large quantities of soldiers under adverse conditions. H[enry] L[ee] Scott [1814-1886], was a colonel and Inspector-General in the US Army and the son-in-law of General Winfield Scott, (commander-in-chief of the US Army at the onset of the Civil War, and for whom the expression "Great Scott!" is thought to be based).