commissar
    n 1: an official of the Communist Party who was assigned to
         teach party principles to a military unit [syn:
         commissar, political commissar]

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