Part of the Civil War @ Charleston Website
Following are some of the Articles of War which are relevant to the Court Martial of Sgt. William Walker taken from the U.S. Army Regulations, 1861. Regulations for court martials are also set out in the Articles of War and the longer and more comprehensive Army Regulations.
ART. 5. Any officer or soldier who shall use contemptuous or disrespectful words against the President of the United States, against the Vice-President thereof, against the Congress of the United States, or against the Chief Magistrate or Legislature of any of the United States, in which he may be quartered, if a commissioned officer, shall be cashiered, or otherwise punished, as a court-martial shall direct; if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, he shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted on him by the sentence of a court-martial.
ART. 6. Any officer or soldier who shall behave himself with contempt or disrespect toward his commanding officer, shall be punished, according to the nature of his offense, by the judgment of a court-martial.
ART. 7. Any officer or soldier who shall begin, excite, cause, or join in, any mutiny or sedition, in any troop or company in the service of the United States, or in any party, post, detachment, or guard, shall su~kr death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted.
ART. 8. Any officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, who, being present at any mutiny or sedition, does not use his utmost endeavor to suppress the same, or, coming to the knowledge of any intended mutiny, does not, without delay, give information thereof to his commanding officer, shall be punished by the sentence of a court-martial with death, or otherwise, according to the nature of his offense.
ART. 9. Any officer or soldier who shall strike his superior officer, or draw or lift up any weapon, or offer any violence against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretense whatsoever, or shall disobey any lawful command of his superior Officer, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall, according to the nature of the offense, be indicted upon him by the sentence of a court-martial.
ART. 10. Every non-commissioned officer or soldier, who shall enlist himself in the service of the United States, shall, st the time of his so enlisting, or within six days afterward, have the Articles for the government of the armies of the United States read to him, and shall, by the officer who enlisted him, or by the commanding officer of the troop or company into which he was enlisted, be taken before the next justice of the peace, or chief magistrate of any city or town corporate, not being an officer of the army," or where recourse cannot be had to the civil magistrate, before the judge advocate, and in his presence shall take the following oath or affirmation:
I, A. B., do solemnly swear, or affirm (as the case may be), that I will hear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever; and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the Rules and Articles for the government of the armies of the United States.Which justice, magistrate, or judge advocate is to give to the officer a certificate, signifying that the man enlisted did take the said oath or affirmation.
Note: By 1863 regulations allowed commissioned Officers to administer oaths for enlistement and reenlistment.