AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90A BLOODLESS BOM.docx

AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90
A BLOODLESS BOMBARDMENT SETS OFF AMERICA’S
BLOODIEST WAR
A period engraving of Confederate artillerymen firing on Fort
Sumter, April 12-14, 1861.
WAR ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE
Americans had never seen war on such a massive scale before
1861. (Upper right) The climax of Pickett’s Charge at
Gettsysburg, July 3, 1863. (Below) Union and Confederate
infantry exchange fire at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia,
September 19, 1864.
SLAUGHTER ON AN UNPRECDENTED SCALE
Confederate dead killed in the Bloody Lane at Antietam,
September 17, 1862 (upper left); Gettysburg, July 1863 (lower
left), and Petersburg, April 1865 (lower right).

A REGULAR ARMY TOO PUNY TO QUELL THE
SOUTHERN REBELLION
(Left) The U.S. Infantry dress uniform, 1860-61. (Right) A
regular cavalry sergeant in his dress uniform.
AN INADEQUATE, SHORT-TERM MILITIA
Three sergeants from the gray-clad 7th New York State Militia,
one of the first Northern regiments to reach Washington, D.C.,
after Fort Sumter.
NORTH & SOUTH TURN TO THE VOLUNTEER SYSTEM TO
FILL THEIR ARMIES
A VAST HORDE OF CITIZEN SOLDIERS
(Lower left) Soldiers of Company G, 71st New York Volunteer
Infantry Regiment. (Lower right) A squad from the 2nd Kansas
Volunteer Infantry Regiment. (Upper right and left) Four
unknown Union volunteers.

VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS BRING MIXED BLESSINGS
Union volunteer infantry drying their laundry on the march –
not the most military-looking procedure.
OFFICERS AS GREEN AS THE MEN THEY LED
(Left) Russell H. Conwell, the future founder of Temple
University, was only nineteen when he was appointed captain of
Company F. 46th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. (Below)
Two officers from the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
Regiment, raised in upper Bucks County.
REGIMENTS WITH A PRONOUNCED LOCAL FLAVOR
Civil War volunteer regiments recruited their members from the
same counties, towns, and city neighborhoods in specific states.
INBUILT UNIT COHESION
Because volunteers enlisted with their neighbors, friends, and
relatives, they were comrades before they even put on uniforms.
(Upper right) Privates Elbridge and Luther Franklin served
together in the 5th Michigan Infantry. (Lower left) Five mess
mates from the 3rd Maryland Infantry. (Upper left) Two

zouaves share some tobacco. (Lower right) Giving water to a
wounded comrade.
REGIMENTS BOUND BY ETHNIC TIES
Recruiting posters for two ethnic regiments from New York –
one filled with German-speaking Americans (left) and the other
by Irishmen (right). (Upper center) Major General Franz Sigel,
the idol of the Union’s German defenders. (Lower center)
Colonel Thomas Meagher, founder of the Irish Brigade.
PROMOTIONS AS POLITICAL PATRONAGE
When the time came to name a new colonel for the 5th Michigan
Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in the spring of 1863, Governor
Austin P. Blair (lower left) rejected an application from Captain
George Armstrong Custer (lower center and right), a West Point
graduate, because the latter was a Democrat. Blair presented
the coveted position to Russell A. Alger (upper right), a
Michigan businessman who also happened to be a fellow
Republican.
LINCOLN’S POLITICAL GENERALS
To ensure widespread Northern support for the Union war
effort, Abraham Lincoln appointed many important politicians
as generals. (Lower left) Major General Nathaniel Banks was

the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(Lower center) Major General Franz Sigel was idolized by the
North’s many German immigrants. (Upper left) Major General
Benjamin Butler and (lower left) Brigadier General Daniel
Sickles were Democratic congressmen.
FORGING THE IRON BRIGADE
Brigadier General John Gibbon (upper left), a regular army
officer, used strict discipline and rigorous training to mold five
regiments from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan into the
vaunted “Iron Brigade,” the most renowned infantry brigade in
the Army of the Potomac.
BECOMING PROPER SOLDIERS
(Upper left) A company of the 35th New York Volunteer
Infantry drawn up in formation in front of its meticulously
policed camp. (Lower left) The 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer
Infantry Regiment on dress parade at Beaufort, South Carolina,
sometime in 1863.
OTHER UNITS CLING TO A RELAXED APPROACH TO
SOLDIERING
Company B (upper photograph) and Company C (lower

photograph), 93rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
WHAT COULD MAKE SO MANY AMERICAN MEN FACE
THIS?
Twenty percent of all Union soldiers died during the Civil War,
as did a third of their Confederate enemies.
“HOW GREAT A DEBT WE OWE”
(Below) Major Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island Regiment.
(Upper right) Ballou’s regiment drilling in camp. (Lower right)
Other Rhode Island officers in camp.
“Give us equality and acknowledge us as men . . .”
REBS FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE AND SLAVERY
WAR’S END – JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME
Photographs of the Grand Review, May 23-24, 1865. It took

two full days for the Union armies commanded by Lieutenant
General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General William Tecumseh
Sherman to parade through the capital.
AN EXPANDED REGULAR ARMY, 1866
Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer (seated just right of center
in the light, broad-brimmed hat) and officers of his 7th U.S.
Cavalry Regiment, created when Congress fixed the size of the
regular establishment at 54,000 men.
A BLACK PRESENCE IN THE REGULAR ARMY
In recognition of black service in the Civil War, Congress
authorized two black cavalry regiments and four infantry
regiments for the regular army in 1866. (Left) A troop of the
9th U.S. Cavalry. (Right) A member of the 9th Cavalry’s
regimental band.
THE REGULAR ARMY SKELETONIZED
By 1874, congressional cuts had reduced the regular army to a
paper strength of 27,000, which translated into 19,000
effectives. (Left) A Thomas Nast cartoon condemns this policy.
(Below) The U.S. Cavalry dress uniform introduced in 1872.
(Left to right) A sergeant, a major, and the chief trumpeter from
the black 9th Cavalry.

THE ARMY RETURNS TO THE FRONTIER, 1865-90
Officers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Wallace, a post on
the desolate Central Pains, in 1868.
A HARSH AND OFTEN MERCILESS LIFE
(Upper left) A typical frontier cavalryman with his horse.
(Lower left) Two U.S. Infantrymen, circa 1885. (Below) The
remains of Sergeant Frederick Wylyams, 7th U.S. Cavalry,
killed, scalped, and mutilated by Plains Indians near Fort
Wallace, June 26, 1867.
THE RESULTS OF POOR TRAINING AND NEGLECT
The fatal bullet strikes Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong
Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, June 25, 1876.
SOME HARD-WON VICTORIES
Custer first made his reputation as an Indian fighter by
destroying a Cheyenne village on the Washita River in present
Oklahoma on November 27, 1868.

A REMORSELESS WAR OF ATTRITION
Four paintings by Charles Schreyvogel provide a romanticized
view of soldier versus Indian brave on the broad expanses of
America’s Far West. Western films would take their inspiration
from such scenes.
A REMORSELESS WAR OF ATTRITION
Frederic Remington won even greater renown for his depictions
of the U.S. Cavalry’s role in the winning of the West.
“If I were an Indian . . .”
George Armstrong Custer admired many qualities in the Plains
Indians. He liked spending time with his native scouts,
conversing through sign language, and joining them in
numerous hunts. He also aped Indian appearance while wearing
buckskin suits during his Western campaigns.
BLUNDERS AND TRAGEDY STIMULATE PROFESSIONAL
REFORM
(Left) Emory Upton as a major general at the end of the Civil

War. He was just shy of twenty-six. (Below) Upton’s
infantrymen battle entrenched Confederate troops at
Spotsylvania Court House, where he demonstrated his flair for
infantry tactics in May 1864.
A POWERFUL PATRON SUPPORTS UPTON
(Left) General William Tecumseh Sherman during his tenure as
commanding general of the U.S. Army, 1869-84. (Right) Emory
Upton as colonel of the 4th U.S. Artillery, circa 1880.
WEST POINT – THE USUAL GATEWAY TO AN ARMY
COMMISSION
Scenes of cadet life at the U.S. Military Academy in the decades
following the Civil War.
PROFESSIONAL READING FEEDS THE AMERICAN
MILITARY MIND
In addition to the Army and Navy Journal, U.S. Army officers
established their own professional journals to permit the
discussion of issues germane to changes in military practice and
warfare.
THE ARMY GETS A GRADUATE SCHOOL AT FORT

LEAVENWORTH
(Lower left) General Sherman. (Upper right) The Fort
Leavenworth Arsenal. (Lower right) The building that first held
the Infantry School of Application, which Sherman established
in 1881.
A BETTER BREED OF OFFICER
The West Pointers who went on to Fort Leavenworth or other
service schools were better at their jobs and more attuned to the
demands of military leadership and the nature of modern war.
THE ENDURING LECACY OF UPTON’S TACTICS
Emory Upton wrote new tactical manuals for the U.S. Infantry,
Cavalry, and Artillery between 1866 and 1875. (Lower right)
Infantrymen deployed in an Uptonian skirmish line.
UPTON’S TACTICS: SKIRMISH LINES BACKED BY
COLUMNS
(Upper left) A mounted line of cavalry skirmishers advances on
the enemy. (Lower left) An infantry skirmish line gives a firing
demonstration on the Custer battlefield at the Little Bighorn.

EMORY UPTON STUDIES THE WORLD’S ARMIES
During Emory Upton’s world tour of 1875-77, he devoted
considerable time to studying the British military establishment
in India, but he developed an especially high admiration for the
German military system. (Right) Sikh and British troops in
India. (Below) Prussian troops defeat the French in 1870.
UPTON ADMIRES THE GERMAN GENERAL STAFF
SYSTEM
(Lower left) Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, head of the
Prussian General Staff, who planned the dramatic defeat of
France. (Upper right) The Prussian Kriegsakademie or War
College in Berlin. (Lower right) Kaiser Wilhelm I and his staff
invade France.
U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDED, 1884
(Lower left) Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce. (Upper right) The
Naval War College today. (Lower right) Assistant Secretary of
the Navy Theodore Roosevelt poses with the Naval War College
faculty in the late 1890s.
AN INDUSTRIAL GIANT RATES A STEEL NAVY

(Below and lower right) The battleship USS Oregon, launched
in 1893. (Upper right) The protected cruiser USS Olympia,
launched 1892, celebrates George Washington’s birthday at
Hong Kong, February 22, 1898.
CAPTAIN ALFRED THAYER MAHAN: APOSTLE OF SEA
POWER
(Right) Mahan in his full dress captain’s uniform.
A NAVY DESIGNED TO WIN WARS
Mahan told the American people they needed a modern navy big
enough to engage any enemy fleet and win the kind of decisive
battle necessary to safeguard the republic’s commercial
interests.
REGULARS, MILITIA, AND VOLUNTEERS, 1800-1860
JOHN ADAMS EXPANDS THE MILITARY

(Below) President John Adams. In 1798, the Adams
Administration gave America a frigate navy (upper right) and a
marine corps (lower right).
A NEW PRESIDENT WARY OF HIS MILITARY
(Left) Thomas Jefferson painted in 1796, four years before his
election to the White House. (Right) Captain John Pratt, 1st
U.S. Infantry Regiment, exuding the aristocratic aura that
Jefferson found so disturbing in the Federalist officer corps he
inherited.
JEFFERSONIAN DEFENSE POLICY: A LAND AND SEA
MILITIA AND COASTAL FORTS
(Upper right) A gunboat of 1800. (Lower right) Fort McHenry,
the guardian of Baltimore Maryland. (Below) An unknown
officer of the New York City Legion, circa 1795.
JEFFERSON ESTABLISHES WEST POINT TO PRODUCE
EDUCATED, REPUBLICAN OFFICERS
(Left) A cadet from the U.S. Military Academy, circa 1805.
(Below) A view of the Hudson River from West Point painted
later in the 19th century.

JEFFERSON USES THE REGULAR ARMY FOR SCIENTIFIC
AND COMMERCIAL PURPOSES
Two U.S. Army officers led the Lewis and Clark Expedition and
many of their men were soldiers. (Lower right) Captain
Meriwether Lewis in the frontier dress he wore on the trail.
AN AGGRESSIVE USE OF THE NAVY
(Upper left) Commodore Edward Preble’s squadron of American
frigates and gunboats bombards Tripoli on August 3, 1804.
(Below) Philadelphia’s own Stephen Decatur became one of
America’s first naval history thanks to his exploits at Tripoli.
(Lower left) Decatur and his sailors seize a Tripolitan gunboat
in a fierce hand-to-hand melee.
JEFFERSON’S AGGRESSIVE USE OF THE ARMY
(Left) Major General James Wilkinson, the senior officer in the
U.S. Army, who would have commanded an attack on New
Orleans. (Right) Captain Zebulon Pike, 2nd U.S. Infantry, who
dared Spanish wrath by exploring present Oklahoma , Colorado,
and New Mexico in 1806.

THE ROYAL NAVY BULLIES A VULNERABLE UNITED
STATES
With the resumption of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, Britain’s
Royal Navy made a habit of stopping American merchant ships
to confiscate cargoes meant for French ports and also to refill
the crews on its warships by impressing or kidnapping
American sailors. Seen here are various views of British press
gangs at work.
JEFFERSON’S MIXED LEGACY
Thomas Jefferson increased the size of the U.S. Army and U.S.
Navy before leaving office in 1809, but the army’s leadership
and the quality of its rank and file did not augur well for the
future. (Right) A private of the 4th U.S. Infantry Regiment,
circa 1811.
AMERICA GOES TO WAR WITH BRITAIN, 1812
(Left) James Madison, Thomas Jefferson’s successor as fourth
President of the United States. (Right) A private of the 4th U.S.
Infantry, a captain of the 13th U.S. Infantry, and a drummer of
the 22nd U.S. Infantry in front of Fort Niagara, circa 1812.
AMERICA’S REGULAR ARMY: LARGER BUT NOT
NECESSARILY BETTER

(Left) A contemporary cartoon depicting the typical U.S. Army
officer as a well dressed dandy incapable of hard military
service. (Lower left) An unknown U.S. Infantry officer, circa
1812. (Lower right) An officer of the tiny U.S. Marine Corps in
1812.
AMERICA’S SHAKY MILITIA
Poorly trained and poorly led, American militia proved unsteady
on campaign and in battle, especially when confronted by
Britain’s Indian allies in the Old Northwest.
U.S. VOLUNTEERS – A MIXED RECORD
Some volunteer units did not perform well, like the Kentucky
infantrymen (left) who were roundly defeated by a mixed force
of Redcoats and Indians on the River Raisin on January 22,
1813. Yet Colonel Richard M. Johnson’s Kentucky Mounted
Volunteers (right) would rout the same foes at the Battle of the
Thames ten months later.
AN ARMY CRIPPLED BY ELDERLY GENERALS
Born in 1751, Henry Dearborn trained to become a doctor, but
abandoned his medical studies to fight in the American
Revolution. He saw action at Bunker Hill and the failed

American attempt to capture Quebec in 1775. He also
participated in the Saratoga, Monmouth Court House, and
Yorktown Campaigns. Named America’s senior major general
in January 1812, his slow-moving maneuvers during the War of
1812 earned him the nickname “Granny Dearborn.” He was
removed from active command in July 1813 and retired from the
army in 1815.
1812:
YEAR OF SHAME FOR THE U.S. ARMY
(Left) A timid Brigadier General William Hull surrendered Fort
Detroit (above) to an inferior force of Redcoats and Indians.
(Below) The ignominious American defeat at Queenston
Heights.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON: SAVIOR
OF THE OLD NORTHWEST
(Left) General Harrison in his ornate, gold-embroidered
uniform. (Upper right) Harrison’s mounted Kentucky
volunteers overrun the British at the Battle of the Thames,
October 5, 1813. (Lower right) Some of Harrison’s infantry
stand watch at Fort Meigs, Ohio.
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON: “OLD HICKORY”
(Above) Jackson crushed the Creek Indians at the Battle of

Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. (Below) He then defeated
a numerically superior British army at New Orleans on January
8, 1815.
BRIGADIER GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT TURNS
AMERICANS INTO SOLDIERS
(Lower left) A terra cotta bust of Brigadier General Winfield
Scott, circa 1815. (Center, lower right, and upper right) A
shortage of blue cloth forced Scott’s regulars to wear gray
coatees, normally the uniform worn by poorly trained militia.
SCOTT’S METHODS VINDICATED AT THE BATTLE OF
CHIPPEWA, JULY 5, 1814
WINFIELD SCOTT MOLDS THE REGULAR ARMY
(Left) Brevet Major General Winfield Scott, circa 1820. (Right)
One of the men who met Scott’s standard, Captain Stephen
Watts Kearny, 13th Infantry, who survived a wound and capture
while fighting beside Scott at Queenston Heights.
WEST POINT GROWS UP
(Below) Major Sylvanus Thayer, Superintendent of the U.S.

Military Academy, 1817-1833. (Right) West Point cadets,
1816-17.
EXCLUDING AMATEURS
(Lower left) Henry Dodge, a political appointee who was the
first colonel of the 1st U.S. Regiment of Dragoons, 1834.
(Lower right) A West Pointer in the full dress uniform of
Dodge’s regiment. (Upper left) A West Point cadet on sentry
duty. (Upper right) An officer of the U.S. Artillery, circa 1840.
MILITARY GENIUS VERSUS PROFESSIONALISM
To many Americans in the 1820s and 1830s, the ideal soldier
was Andrew Jackson, who became a general and won stirring
victories without the benefit of military schooling and years of
sustained military experience.
LAMPOONING THE MILITARY ARISTOCRACY
A cartoon from the 1830s showing regular army officers loafing
in their tents instead of fighting Indians.
ABOLISH WEST POINT!

Congressman David Crockett of Tennessee (below) called for
abolishing the U.S. Military Academy. He later proved his
natural military genius by getting himself trapped and killed at
the Alamo, March 6, 1836.
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER’S LOT: ISOLATION,
DISCIPLINE, HARD WORK, LOW PAY, POOR FOOD, AND
OTHER HARDSHIPS
THE DANGER OF INDIAN OUTBREAKS
Scenes from the Second Seminole War in Florida, a frustrating
conflict that occupied most of the U.S. Army from 1835 to
1842.
THE U.S. NAVY: ABLE OFFICERS AND BRAVE VICTORIES
(Upper left) Captain Isaac Hull commanded the USS
Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” when it bested HMS Guerriere on
August 19, 1812 (below). (Lower left) A young American
officer who also served on the Constitution.
AMERICAN NAVAL SUPREMACY ON THE GREAT LAKES

(Upper right) Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry secured
American control of Lake Erie in a hard-fought action at Put-in-
Bay on September 10, 1813. This victory allowed Major
General William Henry Harrison to invade Canada.
THE CREATION OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY
The U.S. Navy standardized the training of its future officers
with the establishment of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis,
Maryland, in 1845. Franklin Buchanan, pictured here, served as
the Naval Academy’s first superintendent. (Left) Buchanan as
a lieutenant in 1828. (Right) Buchanan as a captain
commanding the Washington Navy Yard in 1859-61.
THE CREATION OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY
(Left) A midshipman, circa 1847. (Right) Midshipman Charles
W. Flusser, USNA Class of 1853. Flusser would be killed
during the Civil War in 1864.
THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-47
American regulars advance quickly under fire to engage their
Mexican opponents outside Mexico City, September 1847.

PRESIDENT POLK PROVOKES A WAR
(Upper right) Brigadier General Zachary Taylor led half the
U.S. Army, 3,922 men, into a disputed area along the Texas
frontier between the Nueces River and Rio Grande. (Below)
American troops on the march.
WINFIELD SCOTT WANTS TO FIGHT THE WAR WITH
REGULARS
(Right) Major General Winfield Scott. (Left) Uniforms worn by
regular infantry officers and men in the Mexican War.
PRESIDENT POLK PREFERS AN ARMY OF CITIZEN
SOLDIERS
(Upper left) President James Knox Polk, a hard-headed partisan
Democrat from Tennessee. (Lower left) An unknown militia
officer. (Below) An early photograph of New Hampshire
Volunteer Militia, the kind of men with whom Polk wanted to
fight the war.
RAISING A VOLUNTEER ARMY
(Upper left and right) Two of Polk’s politician generals, Gideon
Pillow of Tennessee and Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire.
(Lower left) The regimental colors of the 4th Illinois
Volunteers. (Lower right) A recruiting poster distributed

through New Hampshire.
SOUND LEADERSHIP AND COURAGE: AMERICAN
VOLUNTEERS IN COMBAT
Colonel Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate turned planter
and politician, leads his 1st Mississippi Volunteers at the Battle
of Buena Vista in February 1847.
U.S. VOLUNTEERS – A CHRONIC DISCIPLINARY
PROBLEM
Rampaging American volunteers murder the occupants of a
Mexican hacienda.
ZACHARY TAYLOR CHECKS THE MEXICANS IN THE
NORTH
(Below) A portrait of General Taylor. (Upper and lower right)
Scenes from Taylor’s early victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de
la Palma.
“TO THE HALLS OF THE MONTEZUMAS”
American regulars and volunteers under Major General Winfield

Scott fight their way past Chapultepec, a castle guarding the
approaches to Mexico City, September 13, 1847. Scott’s troops
took both Chapultepec and clawed their way inside Mexico City
though opposed by an enemy that outnumbered them three to
one.
A NEW AMERICAN TRADITION OF VICTORY
(Below) American infantry overruns a fortified Mexican
position at Churubusco. (Upper right) General Scott and his
staff enter the main plaza in Mexico City, September 14, 1847.
(Lower right) Scott reviews his victorious troops.
AMERICA DOWNSIZES THE ARMY OF THE MEXICAN
WAR
(Left) American civilians thrill to news of more victories during
the Mexican War. (Right) Discharged volunteers from the
Mormon battalion reunited with their families after the war.
THE REGULAR ARMY RETURNS TO THE FRONTIER
(Upper left) U.S. Dragoon uniforms of the late 1840s. (Lower
right) Infantry uniforms of the early to mid 1850s.

THE PERMANENT INDIAN FRONTIER, 1830-48
(Left) A map of the area in question. (Upper right) Troops
removing Indians from the Old Southwest to Indian Territory.
(Lower right) U.S. Dragoons parley with Comanche Indians on
the Central Plains.
THE U.S. ARMY INTO THE WEST
(Upper right) U.S. Dragoons attacking a Comanche camp.
(Lower right) U.S. Cavalry and Dragoon uniforms in the late
1850s. (Below) Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke,
2nd U.S. Dragoons, on duty in Utah Territory, 1858.
THE ARMY OF THE CONSTITUTION
THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY
SYSTEM
“. . .provide for the common defense . . .”
These words from the preamble of the Constitution give the
government it established a clear military purpose – national
security.
(Right) An officer and private of the Legion of the United

States, circa 1794.
THE MILITIA: THE ORIGINAL COLONIAL DEFENSE
SYSTEM
A Massachusetts militia muster in 1636.
THE MILITIA’S MEDIEVAL ROOTS
Saxon England makes its last stand at the Battle of Hastings,
1066, but the Saxon military system lived on under the Norman
regime.
COST TURNS THE MILITIA INTO THE EXCLUSIVE
PROVINCE OF WHITE MEN WITH PROPERTY
EXCLUDED FROM MILITIA SERVICE
Among those Americans eventually excluded from militia
service were slaves, free blacks, apprentices, Indians, and the
poorer members of white colonial society.
PROVINCIAL TROOPS REPLACE THE MILITIA
(Below) George Washington gained his early military

experience as a Provincial officer from Virginia. (Right)
Enlisted men from Pennsylvania’s Provincial Regiment, circa
1758.
PROVINCIAL TROOPS REPLACE THE MILITIA
With the decline of the militia, colonial governments turned to
hiring Provincial soldiers and rangers who would be paid to
serve set periods of time in frontier garrisons or units formed
for offensive purposes.
BRITISH MILITARY PROTECTION UNAPPRECIATED
American colonists proved unappreciative after London sent
enough British regulars to drive the French from North America
during the Seven Years’ War and then left hundreds of Redcoats
to guard the American frontier.
SOURCES OF BRITISH ANTI-MILITARISM
The military dictatorship established by Oliver Cromwell (left)
after the English Civil War and the efforts of James II (right) to
turn England into an autocratic Catholic state caused English
and American Whigs to regard standing armies with suspicion.
AMERICAN ANTI-MILITARISM REINFORCED
The use of the British Army to uphold Parliament’s claimed

right to tax the Thirteen Colonies gave Americans new reasons
to mistrust standing armies, a view vividly represented by Paul
Revere’s inflammatory engraving of the so-called Boston
Massacre of
March 5, 1770.
THE NEW ENGLAND MILITIA CHALLENGE BRITISH
POWER, APRIL 19, 1775
Massachusetts militia engage British regulars in a running fight
as the Redcoats attempt to retreat from Concord, Massachusetts,
back to Boston. The British attempt to seize Whig arms and
military supplies stored at Concord sparked a series of armed
clashes that quickly escalated into a rebellion that gripped all of
the Thirteen Colonies.
THE BIRTH OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY
(Left) John Tumbull’s 1780 portrait of General George
Washington with his slave and faithful wartime companion,
William Lee. (Right) A modern painting of General
Washington taking charge of his new army at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in the summer of 1775.
SHORT-TERM ENLISTMENTS FOR THE NEW AMERICAN
ARMY
When the Continental Congress first created the Continental
Army, it originally opted for short-term enlistments, allowing
troops, like these New Englanders at the siege of Boston in

1775, to take their discharge after eight to twelve months.
CONGRESS SWITCHES TO A LONG-TERM ARMY
After the British came close to crushing the Revolution during
the New York Campaign of 1776, Congress decreed on
September 16 that Continental troops should be recruited for
terms of three years or the duration of the war.
AMERICA’S MULTI-CULTURAL ARMY, 1781
This watercolor by a French officer during the Yorktown
Campaign illustrates the multi-cultural character of George
Washington’s long-term Continentals. Note the black
infantryman from Rhode Island at left and the frontier rifleman
in the fringed rifle shirt second from right.
AN ENDURING RELIANCE ON THE MILITIA
A persistent shortage of trained Continental soldiers forced
General George Washington (right) and other Continental
commanders to swell the ranks of their field armies with
sizeable drafts of militiaman.
THE MILITIA: GUARDIANS OF THE HOME FRONT
Although American militiamen occasionally performed well in
major battles, they played an even more vital role in their home

districts suppressing Loyalists, opposing British raiders and
foraging parties, and guarding the coastline and the frontier.
CONGRESS: A WEAK CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, 1775-87
Congress became the rebellious Thirteen Colonies’ central
government by default in 1775, and that arrangement was
formalized by the ratification of the Articles of Confederation
in 1781.
AMERICA’S FIRST CONSTITUTION TRIES TO PROVIDE
“FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE”
(Left) John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, the man who originated
that phrase.
CONGRESS QUICK TO DISCHARGE CONTINENTAL ARMY
(Left) General Washington decorates two gallant enlisted men
just before their discharge from his cantonment at Newburgh,
New York. (Below) Washington bids farewell to his officers at
Fraunces Tavern before relinquishing his command.
WASHINGTON’S “SENTIMENTS ON A PEACE
ESTABLISHMENT”
At the invitation of Congressman Alexander Hamilton (below),
General Washington recommended that Congress leave the

newly independent United States with a standing army of 2,631
officers and men.
CONGRESS REPLACES THE CONTINENTAL ARMY WITH
THE
1ST AMERICAN REGIMENT,
JUNE 3, 1784
On June 2, 1784, Congress discharged the last regiment in the
Continental Army. The following day, it authorized the 1st
American Regiment – 700 men to be drawn from the militias of
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
THE 1ST AMERICAN REGIMENT TOO SMALL TO
SAFEGUARD THE FRONTIER
Under strength, poorly supplied, and frequently unpaid, the 1st
American Regiment provided nothing more than a token
American military presence at a string of frontier posts in the
Ohio Valley.
SHAYS’ REBELLION AND THE SPECTER OF MOB RULE
Though Massachusetts militia easily crushed Shays’ Rebellion,
the disturbance made influential and affluent Americans like
George Washington decide a stronger national government was
necessary to preserve law and order.

VETERANS DOMINATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
Thirty of the fifty-five delegates had fought in the War of
Independence.
EDMUND JENNINGS RANDOLPH’S AGENDA
Governor Edmund Jennings Randolph of Virginia, a former
Continental Army officer, persuaded his fellow delegates to not
merely revise the Articles of Confederation, but to create a
strong new constitution.
SOME FOUNDERS ARGUE FOR A MODEST STANDING
ARMY
George Washington of Virginia, Alexander Hamilton of New
York, and William Paterson of New Jersey all spoke out at the
Constitutional Convention on the necessity of a regular army to
protect Americans from outside threats and preserve internal
security.
DEBATE AND WRANGLING SHAPE THE CONSTITUTION
ELBRIDGE GERRY ATTEMPTS TO LIMIT THE PEACE
ESTABLISHMENT

Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (seen below as a young man
and at right in old age) vainly proposed that the U.S. Army be
limited to 2,000 to 3,000 troops in peacetime.
VIRGINIA’S GEORGE MASON PROPOSES FEDERAL
REGULATION OF STATE MILITIAS
HAMMERING OUT THE MILITIA CLAUSE
(Clockwise starting at right) Edmund Randolph of Virginia,
James Madison of Virginia, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts,
and Rufus King of Massachusetts played a leading role in the
debate over the relationship between the federal government and
state militias.
THE CONSTITUTION SIGNED,
SEPTEMBER 17, 1787
23 REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERANS SIGN THE
CONSTITUTION
(Left) An ill John Dickinson had a colleague affix his signature
to the document. (Right) William Jackson, the convention’s
secretary, was not a delegate, but he signed the Constitution
anyway.

ANTI-FEDERALIST VOICES
Some of the Anti-Federalist voices who took alarm at the
military clauses in the Constitution were (left to right) James
Winthrop of Massachusetts, Patrick Henry of Virginia, and
Luther Martin of Maryland.
“SHOT BY A HIRED SOLDIERY”
British soldiers shoot down rampaging Londoners during the
bloody Gordon Riots of 1780. Patrick Henry feared the
Constitution would cause the repetition of such scenes in
America.
ANTI-FEDERALIST VOICES
Some of the Anti-Federalist voices who took alarm at the
military clauses in the Constitution were (left to right) James
Winthrop of Massachusetts, Patrick Henry of Virginia, and
Luther Martin of Maryland.
“THE PURGINGS OF THE JAILS”
These British cartoons from the 1770s and 1780s reflected the
American view that standing armies drew their recruits from the
dregs of society.

CREDITING THE MILITIA WITH WINNING THE WAR
New England militiamen overrun their German opponents at the
Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777.
JAMES MONROE FAVORS A STRENGHTHENED MILITIA
Though a Continental Army veteran, James Monroe of Virginia
believed that a reformed militia was preferable to a standing
army controlled by the federal government.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON: CHAMPION OF A STRONG
AMERICAN MILITARY
Alexander Hamilton of New York devoted eight of the more
than fifty essays that he wrote for The Federalist to military
affairs. He managed to refute every anti-Federalist argument
against allowing the federal government to firm steps relating to
military preparedness.
THE ARGUMENT OF PREPAREDNESS
Hamilton argued that America needed a regular army so it could
be instantly prepared to ward off foreign threats.
“War, like most other things, is a science. . . .”

Alexander Hamilton argued that maintaining a regular army was
essential to national security because it took time, training, and
experience to mold men into competent soldiers.
HAMILTON DEFENDS THE MILITIA CLAUSE
(Left) A grenadier from the New York City Independent Militia,
1773. (Below) A modern reconstruction of a member of the
Philadelphia Associators’ Artillery, 1775.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS RESTRAINS FEDERAL MILITARY
POWERS
James Madison, seen here as a young man in 1783 (left) and
middle-aged (right), wrote the first ten amendments to the
Constitution.
WASHINGTON’S MODEST MILITARY POLICY
Initially, the Washington Administration followed a cautious
military policy, expanding the U.S. Army from 840 to 1,216
men in April 30, 1790. (Left) Washington’s first inauguration
in New York City in 1789. (Right) U.S. Artillerymen, circa
1786-94.
DEFEAT IN THE NORTHWEST, 1790

Brigadier General Josiah Harmar’s punitive expedition of 353
regulars and 1,133 militia failed to intimidate the Ohio Indians.
In two sharp battles, the militiamen fled, leaving seventy-five
regulars to be slaughtered.
(Left) Soldiers of the 1st American Regiment, circa 1786-87.
THE ARMY ENLARGED
Eager to avenge Harmar’s blunders, Congress added a second
infantry regiment to the regular army and authorized a “Corps
of Levies,” 2,000 citizen soldiers recruited for six months.
Major General Arthur St. Clair (right), the governor of the
Northwest Territory, received the mission of subduing the Ohio
Indians.
ST. CLAIR’S DEFEAT SHAKES THE NATION
One thousand Ohio Indians overran St. Clair’s unfortified and
unwary camp on November 3, 1791, killing 657 of the 1,400
men present and routing the rest.
WASHINGTON AND KNOX RESTRUCTURE THE
U.S. ARMY
President George Washington (left) and Secretary of War Henry
Knox (right).

ANTHONY WAYNE CREATES THE LEGION OF THE
UNITED STATES
Major General Anthony Wayne (left) and infantrymen of the
Legion (right).
WAYNE’S LEGION VICTORIOUS AT FALLEN TIMBERS,
AUGUST 20, 1794
Wayne’s aggressive tactics win the day for the Legion of
the United States.
HENRY KNOX PROPOSES FEDERAL MILITIA
REGULATION, JANUARY 1790
(Left) Secretary of War Henry Knox. (Right) Volunteer
militiamen of the Richmond Blues.
HAMILTON AND WASHINGTON CONFRONT THE
WHISKEY REBELLION
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (left) urged
President George Washington (right) to use force to suppress
the Whiskey rebels in western Pennsylvania.
A MASSIVE SHOW OF FORCE

Washington decided to awe the Whiskey rebels by federalizing
15,000 militia from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and
Virginia and sending them into western Pennsylvania. (Above
and below right) President Washington reviews his militia army
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
RESTRAINED USE OF FORCE
At Carlisle, Washington turned over command of his federalized
militia army to Governor Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee of
Virginia (bottom right), but admonished the latter that his
mission was to re-establish civil authority and not institute
martial law.
HAMILTON GOES TOO FAR
During the Quasi-War with France, Hamilton (left) prevailed on
Congress to create a large standing army with himself as acting
commander. The public saw this as a Federalist attempt to
crush political opposition, and that damaged the popularity of
President John Adams (right).
FEDERALISTS DESIRE A LARGE ARMY TO CRUSH
JEFFERSONIAN RADICALISM
(Left) A Federalist political cartoon depicting Jefferson as a
traitor to his country and its freedoms.

A POLITICIZED OFFICER CORPS
Thomas Jefferson inherited a standing army with an officer
corps full of Federalists, such as Captain John Pratt of the 1st
U.S. Infantry Regiment (left) and Major David Van Horne
(right).

AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90A BLOODLESS BOM.docx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90A BLOODLESS BOM.docx

Similar to AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90A BLOODLESS BOM.docx (16)

More from nettletondevon

More from nettletondevon (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

AMATEURISM AND SLAUGHTER, 1861-90A BLOODLESS BOM.docx