CAPTAIN is a military officer, who is commander of a troop of cavalry, or of a company of foot or artillery. The name of captain was the first term made use of to express the chief or _head_ (_caput_) of a company, troop, or body of men. He is both to march and fight at the head of his company. A captain of artillery and engineers ought to be master of the attack and defence of fortified places, and captains of infantry or cavalry should acquire some knowlege of those branches; artillerists should be good mathematicians, and understand the raising of all kinds of batteries, to open the trenches, to conduct the sap, to make mines and fougasses, and to calculate their charges. They ought further to be well acquainted with the power of artillery, the doctrine of the military projectile, and the laws of motion, together with the system of mechanics; and should be good draughtsmen. A captain has in most services the power of appointing his own serjeants and corporals, and may by his own authority reduce or break them; but he cannot punish a soldier with death, unless he revolts against him on duty. The captains of artillery in the Prussian service, rank as majors in the army, and have an extraordinary pay, on account of the great qualifications demanded of them; and the captains of bombardiers, miners, and artificers, in the Portuguese service, have 9 dollars a month more than the captains of artillery in the same regiment. CAPTAIN-_General_. The King is _captain-general_ of all the forces of Great Britain. This term implies the first rank, power, and authority in the British army. This power was delegated to the Duke of York, in 1799. CAPTAIN-_Lieutenant_, the commanding officer of the colonel’s troop or company in the British army, in case the colonel is absent, or he gives up the command of it to him. He takes rank as full captain, by an order in 1772, and by a late regulation, succeeds to the first vacant troop or company; the price of a captain-lieutenancy being the same as that of a captaincy. This title is still used in foreign services. CAPTAIN _reformed_, one who, upon a reduction of the forces, on the termination of war, loses his company, yet keeps his rank and pay, whether on duty or not. CAPTAIN _on half pay_, is one who loses his company on the reduction of an army, and retires on half-pay, until seniority puts him into duty and full pay again. CAPTAIN _en second_, or second captain, is one whose company has been broke, and who is joined to another, to serve under the captain of it. In some armies the _captain en seconde_, is also a second captain to the same company, whose rank is above all the lieutenants, and below all the captains of the same corps.