Party

in a military sense, a small number or detachment of men, horse, or foot, sent upon any kind of duty; as into an enemy’s country, to pillage, to take prisoners, and oblige the country to come under contribution. Parties are often sent out to view the roads and ways, get intelligence, seek forage, reconnoitre, or amuse the enemy upon a march; they are also frequently sent upon the flanks of an army, or regiment, to discover the enemy, if near, and prevent surprise or ambuscade. Parties escorting deserters in the British service receive the following allowances, being the same as have been granted to those of other forces, in consideration of the unavoidable extraordinary wear of their clothing and nece aries on that duty, viz. | Distances from quarters. | | For each man | | £. | s. | d. | | Between | 8 | and | 20 | miles | | 0 | 1 | 0 | | 20 | 50 | | 0 | 2 | 0 | | 50 | 100 | | 0 | 4 | 0 | | 100 | 150 | | 0 | 5 | 0 | | 150 | 200 | | 0 | 6 | 0 | | Above | 200 | | 0 | 7 | 6 | In the like proportion, allowances are to be made for parties of four, five, and six men, but no higher. This is however to be understood as a regulation of allowance merely, it not being the intention of government thereby to restrain any commanding officer from employing larger parties on the escort duty, if he should think proper, but that whatever may be the actual number of the parties, the allowances are to be in the proportion of | Three | men for an escort of | from | 5 | to | 8 | deserters | | Four | ———— | from | 9 | to | 12 | | Five | ———— | from | 13 | to | 16 | | Six | ———— | from | 17 | to | 20 | Exact returns of the said duty, as performed by each corps, are to be made up, agreeable to a form annexed, as soon as may be after every 24th of June and 24th of December, for the half years immediately preceding, and are to be transmitted to the office of the secretary at war, in order that the allowances thereon may be settled and directed. Watering PARTY . See Watering . Firing PARTY , those who are selected to fire over the grave of any one interred with military honors, if below the rank of brigadier-general; for the specific number of which the party is to consist, .—See Burials . Working Parties . These consist of small detachments of men under the immediate command and super intendance of officers who are employed on fatigues which are not purely of a military nature. They are generally called fatigue duties, being different from those of parade, or of exercise in the field. They principally consist in digging canals, repairing roads, working on fortifications, except such as may be constructed in the field, or upon actual service. An addition is made to their pay, as a reward for their labor, and a compensation for their extraordinary wear of nece aries: half of which should always be paid into the hands of the captains, and commanding officers of companies, for this latter purpose. It has been judiciously observed in a note to the treatise on Military Finance, that British troops might in time of peace, be employed much oftener than they are on works of this nature, with equal advantage to the public and to themselves. This remark becomes more forcibly apposite since the adoption of canals through the country.