Fatigue duty
Encyclopedia
Fatigue duty is the labor assigned to military men that does not require the use of arms. Parties sent on fatigue duty were known in English by the French term "detachemens" according to an 1805 military dictionary.
In the United States
, the allowance of soldiers employed at work on fortifications, in surveys, in cutting roads, and other constant labor, of not less than ten days, was authorized by an act approved March 2, 1819, entitled An act to regulate the pay of the army when employed on fatigue duty and paid twenty-five cents
per day for men employed as ordinary laborers and teamsters, and thirty-five to fifty cents per day for men employed as mechanics, depending on their location.
History
The term is recorded in America in 1776, and in an 1805 British military dictionary.In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the allowance of soldiers employed at work on fortifications, in surveys, in cutting roads, and other constant labor, of not less than ten days, was authorized by an act approved March 2, 1819, entitled An act to regulate the pay of the army when employed on fatigue duty and paid twenty-five cents
Cent (United States coin)
The United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse...
per day for men employed as ordinary laborers and teamsters, and thirty-five to fifty cents per day for men employed as mechanics, depending on their location.
Interesting facts (U.S.)
- U. S. soldiers on fatigue duty were allowed an extra gill of whiskey by the act of March 2, 1819.
- For a time, United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
company grade officers were supposed to wear an English model “pillbox” or “round cap” for fatigue duty but it was never popular.