The Articles of war

This publication opens with a letter of transmittal from then Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, dated April 19, 1912 and addressed to the Honorable James Hay, Chairman of the Military Committee of the House of Representatives. In his letter, Secretary Stimson explains the urgent need for change in the more than one-hundred-year-old Articles of War. He asks that the proposed revision be approved and promptly enacted into law at the present session of Congress. This letter of transmittal is accompanied by a letter from Judge Advocate General Enoch H. Crowder to Secretary Stimson, dated April 12, 1912. In this letter, General Crowder presents his case for the attached revision and also provides an historical overview of the current Articles of War. The full text of this document--a reprint of House bill number 23628 (62nd Congress), Being a Project for the Revision of the Articles of War--appears in parallel columns, with the old and newly revised articles appearing side by side.