Leaves and Furloughs
Leaves and Furloughs,long a benefit reserved for officers, were not a right for enlisted men until the mid‐twentieth century, when some of the links between rank and privilege slowly dissolved in the American military. After the Revolutionary War, the American military incorporated British principles on leaves into the Articles of War. A commanding officer exercised wide discretion over how to maintain discipline within his command, ranging from the reward of a leave to punishment with a court‐martial. The only restrictions placed on officers granting furloughs limited leaves to no more than thirty days for 5 percent of the unit at one time. The statute authorizing conscription during the Civil War reiterated this principle. By 1890, however, the continually high desertion rate in the regular army led to calls for a new approach in...
[The entire page is 569 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
