Military Justice and Court-Martial Review
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EsLebeDeutschlandMilitary Justice and Court-Martial Review
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EsLebeDeutschland778 ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .
ExHIRIT 6.
WAR DEPARTMENT ,
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL,
Washington, November 15, 1917 .
Memorandum for the Chief of Staff :
1. The court, consisting of seven field officers and five captains, embrace d
what I believe to be a personnel well above the average of military courts .
The accused were represented by counsel, presumably of their own choice ,
and, so far as appears, this counsel has made no claim to the reviewing author-
ity that the men did not receive a fair trial .
2. While the conduct of the case is, as stated by the Acting Judge Advocat e
General, open to grave censure, yet it can not be assumed that the members o f
this court were influenced thereby in their action .
It is also true that Capt . Harvey, the battery commander, is an officer o f
Very short service and that his actions in this case were ill-advised, unjustifi-
able, and clearly demonstrate his unfitness to command men .
3. Stripped of all technicalities, the evidence is believed to show conclusivel y
that these men, in concert, deliberately refused and failed, and persisted i n
failing, to obey the orders of their commanding officer, and that they di d
this in the presence of the entire battery . There is, and can be no doubt
as to the fact that they fully understood that they were disobeying orders .
4. The action proposed by the Acting Judge Advocate General, would, i n
my judgment, have a most demoralizing effect upon discipline. It is believed
that these men are guilty of an offense which, under normal peace conditions ,
would be very serious and which, under war conditions, is even more so, but ,
in view of the actions of the battery commander, and of the whole circum-
stances surrounding the case, the exercise of clemency by the Secretary o f
War appears to be demanded.
It is suggested : First, that the unexpired portion of their sentences be re-
mitted and that they he restored to duty as privates, if same can be don e
legally ; Second, that Capt . Harvey be severely reprimanded and that he ba re-
lieved from command of Battery A, Eighteenth Field Artillery, if this ha s
not already been done, and that he be assigned to duty elsewhere.
' J. L . CHAMBERLAIN .
EXHIBIT 7.
WAR DEPARTMENT ,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF ,
Washington, November 13, 1917 .
Memorandum for the Chief of Staff .
Subject : Authority of the Judge Advocate General to set aside the judgmen t
of conviction and the sentences of a general court-martial .
1. Herewith are the proceedings of a general court-martial held in the case s
of 14 enlisted men of Battery A, Eighteenth Field Artillery, charged wit h
the crime of mutiny, together with an opinion of the Judge Advocate General ,
which concludes as follows :
* * * "In the exercise of the power of revision conferred upon me b y
section 1199, Revised Statutes of the United States, I hereby set aside the judg-
ment of conviction and the sentence in the case of each of these several defen d,.
ants, and recommend that the necessary orders be issued restoring each of the m,
to duty . "
2. The case is one involving a most flagrant miscarriage of justice. The men
were tried for mutiny, when they had not committed mutiny . They wer e
driven into the situation which served as a basis of the charge by the unwar-
ranted and capricious conduct of a young officer commanding the battery ,
who had barely two years' service . In fair justice to the men accused there
should and it would seem must be some agency with power to restore them t o
the status possessed by them prior to their trial and conviction .
3. It is hardly within the province of the undersigned to express an opinion
as to the legality of the action indicated by the Judge Advocate General, bu t
a careful reading of the extended opinion of the Judge Advocate General o n
the exercise of his power under section 1199, Revised Statutes, and submitted
under date of November 10, 1917, for the personal consideration of the Secre-