Aide-De-Camp

an officer appointed to attend a general officer, in the field, in winter-quarters, and in garrison; he receives and carries the orders, as occasion requires. He is taken from the line, and all aids-de-camp have extra pay allowed for their duty. This employment is of greater importance than has been generally believed: it has been, however, too often entrusted to young officers of little experience, and of as little capacity; but in the French service they bestow great attention on this article. Marshal de Puysegur mentions the lo of a battle through the incapacity of an aide-de-camp. On the English establishment, generals, being field marshals, have four, lieutenant-generals two, and major-generals and brigadier-generals one. In the United States the number is established by law; though on service the number must nece arily be equal to the exigency, or the various points to which orders must be sent. See American Mil. Lib. Article Staff .