Law Dictionary of Legal Terminology

COMMISSARY

COMMISSARY. An officer whose principal duties are to supply the army witli provisions.

2. The Act of April 14, 1818, s. 6, requires that the president, by and with the consent of the senate, shall appoint a commissary general with the rank, pay, and emoluments of colonel of ordnance, and as many assistants, to be taken from the sub-alterns of the line, as the service may require. The commissary general and his assistants shall perform such duties, in the purchasing and issuing of rations to the armies of the United States, as the president may direct. The duties of these officers are further detailed in the subsequent sections of this act,, and in the Act of March 2, 1821.