The American Military - A Narrative History

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  In the weeks that followed, however, Congress began dismantling the armed forces. In the Reduction Bill of 1815, the authorization levels were slashed to only 10,000 men. Organized into a Northern Division and a Southern Division, the shrinking regiments inherited the impossible task of defending almost 2 million square miles of territory with no chief of staff or chain of command. Bureau responsibility for key functions remained ineffective, leaving a significant gap between the general staff and the field commanders. Moreover, the rapid reductions in strength caused a great deal of hardship for the veterans returning home. Given congressional parsimony, the Army languished in the throes of demobilization.

  The Navy renewed its warfare against the Barbary pirates, who took American merchantmen as captives. On March 3, 1815, Congress authorized President James Madison to take action against the regency of Algiers. Captain Stephen Decatur led the first squadron of 10 warships, which was followed by a second, even larger squadron of 17 warships under the command of Captain William Bainbridge. Decatur captured two Algerine vessels and took hundreds of prisoners. On June 28, his squadron arrived in Algiers with its prizes. After negotiating a favorable treaty “owing to the dread of our arms,” Decatur sailed for Tunis. He negotiated another agreement whereby the Tunisians pledged to pay financial restitution to the U.S. for their previous attacks on merchantmen. Finally, he demanded and received another treaty from Tripoli, which disavowed the practice of demanding tribute and promised to release prisoners from various nations. As a result, America's 30-year fight to rid itself of piracy along the Barbary Coast ended with the establishment of a free trade zone in the Mediterranean.

  After succeeding Madison as president, Monroe tapped the energetic John C. Calhoun of South Carolina to head the War Department. Constrained by the financial panic of 1819, Congress requested that Calhoun make further reductions to military spending. The next year, he responded with an innovative plan based to a large extent upon a concept once proposed by George Washington. Accordingly, the Army needed to maintain the formal organization of regiments along with the full complements of both line and staff officers. In other words, the fixed presence of the officer corps was indispensable for organizing the Army. However, the quantity of enlisted men in active service would be reduced by half. In case of an emergency, this skeletal frame could be doubled in size by increasing numbers without forming entirely new regiments. Thus, a force structure appropriate for wartime would exist during peacetime at a downsized level.

  Even though members of Congress ignored much of Calhoun's plan, the concept of an “expansible” force informed defense planning for the rest of the nineteenth century. On March 2, 1821, Congress passed another Reduction Act, which cut the enlisted strength of the Army by half to 5,586 but reduced the size of the officer corps by only one-fifth to 540. It authorized the retention of a smaller regular force with a disproportionate number of officers while maintaining a structure necessary to form a much larger force. The War Department kept seven regiments of infantry and four regiments of artillery in place, albeit with most companies at half-strength. Despite the drastic cut to the end strength overall, the retention of a proportionally larger officer corps would allow the Army to expand rapidly if war came. Calhoun's plan marked a turning point in military policy, because Congress acknowledged that Army regulars rather than the state militia formed the backbone of national defense.

  Moreover, the Reduction Act augmented the leadership of the armed forces. The Northern and Southern Divisions disappeared from the organizational scheme, but an Eastern and a Western Department replaced them. The former received orders from New York, whereas the latter was headquartered in St. Louis. The federal government authorized only one major general, General Jacob J. Brown. Calhoun brought him to Washington D.C. in an esteemed position that later became known as Commanding General of the Army, which he held until his death in 1828. Although unable to tamper with the state militia, the War Department began to create a more centralized system of command and control for the regular Army.

  The regular Army stood at the forefront of several national trends. The higher echelons of service often attracted individuals with political connections but modest incomes. However, more than half of the rank and file hailed from foreign lands. Irish and German immigrants composed the largest ethnic groups. Although the federal government officially excluded blacks from military service after 1820, the organized militia in northern states permitted many to serve. Moreover, Indian recruits fell into shifting categories of allies, scouts, and assimilated troops. Regardless of their motives for joining, a small number served to advance American interests.

  While advancing American interests, the Navy endeavored to protect overseas trade and to conduct diplomatic missions. In 1816, Congress pledged to provide appropriations of $1 million annually for eight years of naval construction. Eventually, a dozen 44-gun frigates were constructed under the provisions. Instead of battle fleets, the Navy Department preferred smaller but swifter warships organized into squadrons. They stationed the squadrons in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and the West Indies after 1820. Even though the Navy attempted to interdict ships involved with the slave trade, the African Squadron was not established until two decades later. While the Board of Navy Commissioners helped the Secretary of the Navy administer the squadrons, Congress gradually pushed for retrenchment.

  During 1816, Congress appropriated funds to upgrade what eventually became known as the “Third System” for coastal defense. It created the Board of Engineers for Fortifications, which officials simply dubbed the Fortifications Board. Its members included Brevet General Simon Bernard, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Totten, and Captain Jesse Duncan Elliott. They visited naval yards, harbors, and arsenals while formulating comprehensive plans for improving defenses. They produced annual reports, which established priorities for congressional budgeting and procurement. For instance, the 1821 report suggested 50 sites for fortification from the Atlantic seaboard to the Gulf Coast. Although forts appeared at only 42 of these sites, the towers, seawalls, and batteries received upgrades.

  The reports of the Fortifications Board established the parameters for a defense system that extended inland. The Army's engineers generally oversaw the construction projects. All of the fortifications involved masonry composed of either brick or granite. The main defensive works incorporated large structures based to an extent upon the Montalembert concept for concentrated guns in tall, thick masonry walls. Other fortifications reflected the Vauban concept of low, protected masonry walls fronted by earthen slopes. Even if the fortifications appeared durable, their expense troubled Congress. Remarkably, the new lines of defense secured the continent from possible foreign attack for the next three decades.

  Monroe took additional steps to secure a permanent peace with the British Empire. According to the Rush–Bagot Agreement of 1817, the British and the Americans provided for gradual naval disarmament on the Great Lakes. Although the deal did not formally address land defenses, it forestalled an expensive arms race between the former enemies. Furthermore, the Convention of 1818 fixed the boundary between Canada and the Louisiana Purchase at the 49th parallel. It also resolved the Anglo-American dispute over the Oregon country by agreeing to treat it as a condominium or jointly occupied territory for 10 years. Going forward, the agreements signaled a rapprochement between Great Britain and the U.S.

  Beginning with the “era of good feelings,” the American republic enjoyed greater stability without confronting an urgent threat to national sovereignty. In fact, security seemed relatively inexpensive because of the interposition of vast bodies of water around North America. Consequently, the U.S. avoided the elaborate and costly burdens of defense that imposed a heavy toll on civil society.

  Into the Borderlands

  Once the Napoleonic Wars ended, the Monroe administration permitted the armed forces to redraw the map of North America. Determined to keep the European powers at bay, service members encountered a variety of no
n-state actors – Indians, pirates, expatriates, traders, and adventurers – along U.S. borders. Time and again, military operations cleared the way for Americans to pursue their interests across the continent.

  The Spanish colony of Florida represented a focal point for American interests. During 1816, General Edmund Gaines oversaw Fort Scott's construction at the confluence of the Clint and Chattahoochee Rivers in southern Georgia. He permitted two gunboats to demolish Negro Fort, which often provided refuge for runaway slaves on the Florida side of the international boundary. As many as 270 people died inside the fort. The next year, Gaines's troops attacked a Creek village on the Georgia side of the line. Creek and Maroon parties retaliated two weeks later by raiding an Army keelboat ascending the Apalachicola River. Two miles from Fort Scott, they killed 36 soldiers along with several dependants. The children's heads were smashed against the side of the boat. Secretary of War Calhoun ordered Gaines to seek reparations by crossing into Florida and attacking the Seminole, who harbored the responsible parties. In a matter of weeks, Gaines successfully captured Amelia Island on the eastern coast of Florida.

  Meanwhile, the Monroe administration turned over operations in Florida to General Andrew Jackson. In a letter written on January 30, 1818, Monroe told Calhoun to instruct Jackson “not to attack any post occupied by Spanish troops.” However, Jackson never received the instructions. In fact, he previously wrote Monroe that he disapproved of the limitations imposed upon Gaines during his incursion into Florida. He also suggested that the Spanish colony could be seized within 60 days and held as indemnity for the incessant attacks against Americans. Although not a reply, Monroe wrote directly to Jackson with vague exhortations. “Great interests are at issue,” noted the president, “and until our course is carried through triumphantly and every species of danger to which it is exposed is settled on the most solid foundation, you ought not to withdraw your active support from it.” Eager for action, Jackson chose to interpret these words as an authorization for the use of force.

  Early in 1818, Jackson marched 1,000 Tennessee volunteers across the border and linked up with reinforcements that included friendly Creek Indians. Soon, close to 5,000 men joined the incursion. They occupied the ruins of Negro Fort, which Jackson renamed Fort Gadsden. On April 7, he took the Spanish fort of St. Marks and captured a prominent British adventurer named Alexander Arbuthnot, who armed the Seminole. Two Creek leaders, Homathlemico and Josiah Francis, were captured and hanged immediately. Next, troops sacked the Seminole villages of Chief Billy Bowlegs along the Suwannee River, where they arrested a Royal marine, Robert Ambrister. After returning to St. Mark's, Jackson convened a military court to try Arbuthnot and Ambrister for inciting the Indians. On April 29, the former was hanged, and the latter was shot. A month later, the Spanish governor surrendered the town of Pensacola to Jackson. While Monroe insisted to Congress that the Army had merely chastised the Indians, Jackson hoisted the U.S. flag over Florida.

  Although the high-handed moves in Florida lacked clear authorization from Washington D.C., Monroe sent Jackson into the borderlands knowing what he might do. While the general felt no reluctance about fighting an undeclared war, the commander-in-chief chose not to stop his aggression. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who began negotiating with the Spanish minister Don Luis de Onís, effectively widened the scope of their discussions. Signed in 1819, the Adams–Onís Treaty – also called the Transcontinental Treaty – required Spain to cede all of Florida to the U.S. and to relinquish territorial claims north of the 42nd parallel in the Pacific Northwest. In return, the U.S. agreed to pay up to $5 million for American claims against Spain as well as to abandon territorial claims to Texas. By stretching the boundary across the continent, the U.S. gained international recognition as a two-ocean power.

  As the international balance of power gradually shifted, the Monroe administration began repositioning the armed forces to block British interests in the continental interior. With much of the unorganized territory unmapped, the Army Topographical Bureau dispatched Major Stephen Long to the “Engineer Cantonment” on the Missouri River. After an expedition to the Yellowstone River stalled, he headed toward the western border along the Rocky Mountains. In 1820, he set out with a team of scientists to find the headwaters of the Platte, Arkansas, and Red Rivers. With financing for the expedition in jeopardy, Long and his party returned via the Canadian rather than the Red River. Unfortunately, poor leadership and frequent desertions marred their expedition. In fact, they ate their own horses to survive. The official report described the barrenness of the interior and included a map labeling it a “Great Desert.”

  Three years later, Long led a scientific party on a probe into the borderlands with British Canada. While surveying the topography, the flora, and the fauna from the Minnesota River to Lake Superior, he encountered British fur traders and settlers. They inhabited the area without acknowledging U.S. sovereignty. After determining the location of the 49th parallel, he marked it with an oaken post displaying the letters “G.B.” on the northern side and “U.S.” on the southern side. He ordered the firing of a military salute while conducting a short ceremony. By virtue of the authority given to him by the commander-in-chief, Long proclaimed that the village of Pembina belonged to the U.S.

  As the U.S. reshaped the borderlands, Spanish colonies in the western hemisphere pursued independence from Madrid. During 1822, the Monroe administration established diplomatic relations with five breakaway republics – La Plata, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. Eyeing the prize of Cuba, Secretary of State Adams called it a “natural appendage” of North America. However, the Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia, and Austria authorized military incursions to help restore the possessions of the Spanish Empire. Specifically, the Russian ukase of 1821 asserted rights to the Oregon country and forbade non-Russian ships from approaching the coastline. Given their interests in overseas territories, Great Britain proposed to the U.S. that they mutually declare and enforce a policy to stop any incursions by the Holy Alliance. Adams urged Monroe to resist a joint statement, suggesting instead a unilateral one.

  During his annual message to Congress on December 2, 1823, the president issued a bold statement known as the Monroe Doctrine. The U.S. would avoid involvement in European affairs, but Monroe warned foreign governments against making attempts to reestablish dominion over any portion of the western hemisphere. Colonization of the borderlands was “dangerous to our peace and safety.” Imperial threats to the sovereignty of the emerging republics of Latin America constituted “an unfriendly disposition” toward the U.S. The American military guaranteed the security of the New World, although European regimes largely discounted the saber rattling. Without much fanfare at the time, the Monroe Doctrine remained the nation's primary strategic concept for over a century.

  Arc of Expansion

  The regular Army spearheaded the expansion of American interests into new locations. A disposable force operated near the outer edge of settlement, whereas the bulk of the regiments were held in reserve at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. Forts appeared in every section of the country, but the primary line of defense shifted westward.

  By 1823, the British and American fur trade had brought economic disruption, epidemic disease, and ecological devastation to the Indian tribes of what was known as the Old Northwest. Beginning on June 2, Arikara warriors assaulted several trappers employed by the Missouri Fur Company. The survivors of the assault fled downstream to Fort Atkinson, where Colonel Henry Leavenworth responded by organizing 220 soldiers from the 6th Infantry Regiment for a counterattack. Armed with good rifles, a boatload of trappers volunteered to join his “Missouri Legion” in the fight. He also accepted the aid of 750 Yankton and Teton Sioux, who desired to strike a blow against their traditional enemies. To support the counterattack, three keelboats carried ammunition and two 6-pounders up the Missouri River.

  Arriving at the Arikara villages on August 9, Leavenworth made a number of tactical errors. The mounte
d Sioux swept ahead of the infantrymen and initiated battle. However, the officer negotiated a treaty to avoid further bloodshed. Arikara leaders promised to restore the property of the Missouri Fur Company, but the villagers slipped away in the night. The Sioux withdrew in disappointment, while the trappers burned the village site. Returning to Fort Atkinson, Leavenworth claimed that his actions taught the Arikara “to respect the American name and character.” Despite the show of force, the absence of supply lines made it difficult for Army regulars to operate far beyond a military outpost.

  The absence of supply lines stemmed largely from federal issues over internal improvements, that is, appropriations for constructing transportation systems. At the urging of Secretary Calhoun, the War Department extended the cordon of forts along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. They served as forward bases to garrison soldiers, whose presence enabled the U.S. to extend its jurisdiction and to enforce the laws. Owing to their remote station, subsistence farming and stock-raising made them remarkably self-sufficient. Although the “factory system” for trading posts ended, the Indian Office was organized in 1824 to negotiate treaties for the transfer of tribal lands. Serving as a frontier constabulary, officers and enlisted men monitored the civilian traffic in many areas. Despite caution about using Army regulars for construction projects without an explicit military purpose, soldiers surveyed and built roadways and canals in almost every section of the country. Given the vast expanses of territory in North America, expanding the infrastructure enabled U.S. forces to rapidly deploy to danger zones.