The American Military - A Narrative History

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  On the prairies and the plains, the U.S. needed a cavalry force to match the tactical mobility of the horse-mounted Indians. During 1832, Congress authorized the formation of a battalion of 600 mounted rangers, which were placed under the command of Major Henry Dodge. The following year, Dodge earned a promotion to colonel and received command of a regiment called the “dragoons.” After rigorous training in horse-riding and infantry fighting at Jefferson Barracks, Dodge commanded their first expedition beyond Fort Gibson in 1834. Leavenworth, now a general and the commander of the Western Division, died tragically while accompanying them to the Washita River. Nonetheless, dragoons continued to patrol overland trails and river valleys to display their skilled horsemanship. With Americans pushing westward in growing numbers, Army regulars began to escort civilians as far as the Mexican border.

  After achieving independence from Spain, the Mexican government permitted Anglo-American emigrants to settle within the state of Coahuila y Texas. During 1835, Anglos and Tejanos joined together to declare their independence from Mexico. To suppress the Texas revolt, General Antonio López de Santa Anna marched his army northward. Although it was not strategically vital, approximately 150 defenders of the Alamo died after a siege on March 6, 1836. Juan Nepomuceno Seguín, a prominent Tejano and captain in the Texas cavalry, carried dispatches from the Alamo before it fell. Volunteers from the U.S. rushed across the Sabine River to join the army of General Sam Houston, a veteran of the American military. On April 21, 1836, Houston captured Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto and forced the Mexican leader to recognize the Lone Star Republic.

  A former minister to Mexico, Joel Poinsett became the Secretary of War in 1837 and began planning for a series of reconnaissance operations in the western territories. The following year, Congress authorized a separate unit of officers known as the Corps of Army Topographical Engineers. Its most notable member was Lieutenant John C. Frémont, who achieved fame nationwide as the Pathfinder. In 1842, he led an expedition to the Rocky Mountains that mapped the South Pass. During the next two years, he returned to the Rockies and proceeded onward to the Great Salt Lake as well as to Fort Vancouver. Next, he headed south into Spanish California, eventually journeying back across the Great Basin and the Wasatch Range. After crossing the Continental Divide, he navigated along the Arkansas River before ending his military venture in St. Louis. Because his reports contained valuable geographic information, the War Department authorized additional operations for exploring and surveying the continent.

  Under the banner of national defense, Americans in the military pursued an array of political, diplomatic, scientific, and commercial objectives. The regular Army devoted itself to the ambitions of the antebellum period, although sometimes at the expense of other occupants in North America. Because military operations frequently benefited the U.S. as a whole, the federal government helped to underwrite the arc of expansion.

  Indian Removal

  East of the Mississippi River, Indian communities tangled with governmental authorities hostile to their interests. During 1825, the War Department set aside a permanent reserve for their voluntary colonization and safety. The territory was bounded on the north by the Platte River and on the south by the Red River, while it stretched from the western borders of Missouri and Arkansas to the 100th meridian. On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. It contained provisions for governing the territory in addition to providing aid to emigrant Indians. If Indians refused to relocate, then they would be subject to the laws of the states. Lewis Cass, who became Secretary of War the following year, executed Jackson's policy of Indian removal.

  The policy led to an armed conflict called Black Hawk's War. A former ally of the British during the War of 1812, Black Hawk headed a band of Sauk and Fox Indians driven from Illinois. On April 5, 1832, he led as many as 2,000 followers eastward across the Mississippi River to return to their ancestral homes. While Americans desired to remove them from the mining districts, an intertribal contest raged for control of hunting grounds. In response to a request from Secretary Cass, General Henry Atkinson arrived in Illinois with 200 regulars from the 6th Infantry. Convinced that Black Hawk intended to fight, he requested support from the state militia. Approximately 2,000 militiamen responded to the call of Governor John Reynolds. They included a young volunteer named Abraham Lincoln, who was elected captain of his militia company. In the Battle of Stillman's Run, two battalions confronted Black Hawk's band on May 14. The Indian warriors fought valiantly and routed the much larger militia force.

  To bring the war to a successful conclusion, the Jackson administration ordered Major General Winfield Scott of the Eastern Department to assume command of the operation. After learning about Scott's orders, Atkinson hoped to take action before his arrival. Augmented by volunteer militia and Indian auxiliaries, he organized a new force that he dubbed the “Army of the Frontier.” Following a series of Indian raids on remote settlements, U.S. forces defeated Black Hawk's band in the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. On August 2, 1832, the fleeing Indians reached the confluence of the Bad Axe River and the Mississippi River. Before they reached the other side, an Army gunboat christened the Warrior strafed them with canister shots and rifle volleys. Only 150 of the band survived. After Black Hawk surrendered and accepted imprisonment, he traveled to Jefferson Barracks under the supervision of a young Army lieutenant named Jefferson Davis. As a result of the treaties that followed the war's conclusion, the military directed the removal of most tribal groups in the vicinity to Indian Territory.

  With few exceptions, the removals to Indian Territory became logistical disasters. Inside the War Department, the Commissary General of Subsistence, George Gibson, monitored the operations. Civilian superintendents of emigration haphazardly handled planning and execution, including the disbursements of money and supplies promised in the removal treaties. Frequently, malnutrition plagued emigrating Indians because of the spoiled meat and insufficient rations delivered by unscrupulous contractors. Beset with freezing temperatures while moving during the winter months, families also suffered from outbreaks of cholera, smallpox, and pneumonia. Although Army regulars often shared a paternalistic attitude regarding Indian affairs, they seemed unprepared for the difficult duties that fell to them.

  After signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the Choctaw of southern Mississippi postponed emigration until the Army made suitable preparations. Soldiers repaired buildings at Fort Smith, which became a supply station during their trek. Likewise, Fort Towson was reestablished near the Red River to protect the new arrivals. Within four years, 12,800 Choctaw relocated to Indian Territory.

  Compared to other emigrating tribes, the Chickasaw of northern Mississippi fared better on their journey westward. Though initially agreeing to a removal treaty in 1832, they delayed its implementation while a number of exploring expeditions collected information about their destination. Five years later, Chickasaw leaders completed an agreement with the Choctaw of Indian Territory known as the Treaty of Doaksville. Prodded by federal officials, the former began migrating that year to lands purchased from the latter.

  The Creek of Alabama, however, presented a greater challenge to the War Department. Signed in 1832, the Treaty of Washington gave tribal members the option of either migrating to Indian Territory or receiving allotments in Alabama. As tensions mounted, opponents of removal fled to Georgia. During 1836, roving bands clashed with state militia. Secretary Cass ordered General Thomas S. Jesup to send his troops into action, but General Scott arrived in due time to assume direct command. They divided their forces to trap the Creek, although Jesup moved first. He captured a war leader, Eneah Micco, as well as 400 warriors. While some bands accepted removal peacefully, military operations continued for weeks in Alabama and Georgia. Under armed guard, approximately 800 warriors were handcuffed and chained together for travel. Before the year ended, the number of Creek removed to Indian Territory reached 14,609.

  Thanks
to legal challenges that delayed federal action, the Cherokee passively resisted the removal policy of the Jackson administration. A minority faction of Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, but the principal chief, John Ross, refused to endorse it. The next year, Secretary Cass dispatched General John E. Wool to Georgia and instructed him to force the Cherokee into submission if hostilities erupted. Instead, Wool attempted to protect them. In fact, he faced a military court of inquiry that September for ostensibly trampling on the rights of the states. Although 2,000 Cherokee departed for Indian Territory immediately, the vast majority refused to move.

  The Army took action during 1838, when President Martin Van Buren ordered General Scott to collect the Cherokee still residing in the South. Although Scott encouraged his troops – mostly militia – to show humanity and mercy, atrocities abounded. They rounded up thousands at bayonet point and herded them into military stockades. During the winter months, at least one-quarter of the Cherokee died. Before arriving at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory, more than 18,000 men, women, and children endured the “Trail of Tears.” Even if the Cherokee tragedy was not entirely of the Army's making, the devotion and empathy of a few good men did little to end the suffering of the innocent.

  Considered the last of the Five Civilized Tribes in the South, the Seminole frustrated the Army's efforts to remove them from the Florida Territory. In 1832, Colonel James Gadsden, a former adjutant general of the War Department, negotiated the Treaty of Payne's Landing with a handful of Seminole leaders. The next year, a tribal delegation visited Indian Territory and signed an agreement to settle near the Creek.

  Refusing to accept removal, a Seminole named Osceola led a violent but effective guerrilla campaign of resistance. On December 28, 1835, he directed a small party to murder a federal agent just outside of Fort King. At the same time, he dispatched another party to carry out the Dade Massacre. A month later, General Scott took charge of Army regulars and Florida volunteers. He was succeeded by a series of commanders, who scoured the swamplands in search of the Seminole. Even after the capture of Osceola under a white flag of truce, his followers continued to resist removal for years. Called the Second Seminole War, the fight lasted until 1842. It cost millions of dollars and the lives of 1,600 soldiers. Exactly 2,833 Seminole were removed to Indian Territory, but a small number remained in the Everglades afterward.

  Before Congress transferred Indian affairs to the Interior Department in 1849, the task of removal appeared tantamount to war. Many echoed the sentiments of Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock, who called the negotiations for the treaties “a fraud on the Indians.” Irrespective of their doubts about the coercive efforts, Americans in uniform implemented federal policies that devastated Indian communities in the U.S.

  Reforming the Militia

  As the industrial revolution transformed towns and cities across the U.S., a rising middle class tended to perceive the organized militia as a waste of time, energy, and money. In most communities, mustering days started with a roll call but degenerated into a drinking festival. Some trained with nothing more than brooms, giving rise to the derisive sobriquet “cornstalk militia.” Fines for absences from drill imposed a greater burden on individuals without financial means, especially immigrants and debtors. The working class, moreover, failed to qualify for exemptions devised by state and local governments. Due to indiscipline and neglect, the militia system and its compulsory service requirements all but faded from civil society.

  Congress received a number of proposals with recommendations for improving the militia system. In 1826, the Barbour Board conducted a comprehensive review and concluded that compulsory service produced far more men than the states could train properly. Given the uneven record of performance in combat, the enrolled units often disappointed senior commanders. Notable deficiencies included inadequate weaponry, incompetent leadership, and inconsistent regulations. The review offered several recommendations for reform, but members of Congress refused to interfere with the prerogatives of the states.

  In 1840, the Van Buren administration offered a new plan to nationalize the state militias, although critics condemned it as unconstitutional and costly. Crafted by Secretary of War Poinsett, it called for dividing the militia into three categories: the mass, the active force, and the reserves. In place of the obligatory mustering days, it would facilitate the formation of volunteer companies. Though Congress balked, the states embraced aspects of the plan.

  Throughout the antebellum period, states debated militia laws in constitutional conventions as well as in legislative sessions. Delaware repealed several militia fines as early as 1816, and in 1831 the state abolished the individual mandate to serve altogether. Massachusetts eliminated requirements for the militia in 1840, followed by Maine, Ohio, and Vermont in 1844. That same year, New Jersey abolished imprisonment for nonpayment of militia fines. Given the democratic urges associated with the political climate, many other states followed suit.

  Compulsory service in the militia persisted longer in southern states with slave patrols. Responding to episodes of fear and unrest, patrols in Virginia helped to quell Nat Turner's revolt during 1831. Typically, patrol membership drew from militia rosters, which shifted the costs of maintaining chattel slavery away from slave owners to citizen soldiers. The burdens were not shared equally by all members of the communities, because exemptions, substitutions, and fines augmented the social composition of the patrols.

  Patrolling in the South varied over time and by location. Rural patrollers rode mounts while on duty, but urban patrollers moved on foot. The planter elite in the countryside owned the horses, which reinforced aristocratic distinctions within the militia companies. Towns and cities tended to hire permanent patrols, either paying them directly or offering them tax breaks. Some communities resorted to committees to appoint and to supervise patrolling, whereas others simply relied on the courts.

  Though widely disparaged, patrols attempted to locate and to return runaway slaves. If warranted, they searched slave quarters for concealed weapons, stolen goods, and unauthorized occupants. Likewise, they interrupted gatherings near the roadways and in the brushes and routinely detained blacks without a pass. Arbitrary and harassing behavior abounded. Moreover, they responded violently to rumors and to signs of insurrection. Incidents of physical beatings and sexual abuse became routine. Drinking and rowdiness seemed common whenever militiamen patrolled in the South.

  In almost every state east of the Mississippi River, voluntary militia companies gradually supplanted the state militia system in size and stature. The market economy, expedient transportation, massive immigration, and urban growth generated complex changes in the nation that prompted segments of the population to affiliate voluntarily. Veterans and other model citizens often received charters from states and municipalities to organize themselves into paramilitary units. Acting as highly selective social clubs, the existing members screened candidates and voted on prospective inductees. By-laws established rules and regulations regarding eligibility, dues, officers, uniforms, weapons, equipment, training, and exercises. Through social networks at a local level, the call to military service remained a vibrant part of American life.

  With a growing affinity for volunteerism, Americans joined together in public displays of ardor. The more exclusive units added terms such as Invincibles, Avengers, or Terribles to their nomenclature. In some cases, troops accentuated their identification as cavalry, artillery, or grenadiers, thereby distinguishing themselves from the mass of infantry. For others, the ethnicity of the rank and file influenced cohesion in addition to heraldry. Membership sustained political, social, or economic aspirations while visibly indicating loyalty to the U.S. The purchase of extravagant uniforms, special accouterments, and colorful flags exemplified pomp and circumstance. For example, the Pioneer Rifles of Rochester, New York, paraded with a tall beaver hat, a green coat, a high collar, large cuffs, and white pants. Another unit in New York was the first to adopt the title of the Nati
onal Guard. Its use of the name began in 1824 during a visit to New York by the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution.

  The volunteer militia movement enabled an armed citizenry to affirm a sense of patriotism, camaraderie, and discipline. Armories provided finer weaponry to the dues-paying members and offered public space to share with a community at large. Company fellowship permitted individuals to exult in a grand spectacle, even if their proficiency seemed more fictive than real. Gesturing to the crowds, gentlemen of property and standing showed their martial spirit. Indeed, the elected officers viewed their eminent positions as avenues for personal advancement. Hence, militia reform effectively diminished the compulsory features of military service while accentuating the civic-mindedness of American democracy.

  The Old Navy

  The industrial revolution transformed naval warfare in Europe, but the Navy of the U.S. remained a relatively small maritime force. Squadrons of ships operated in the Pacific, in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas, along both coasts of South America, and along the East African coast. While extending the global reach of American power, the Navy primarily protected the nation's commercial traffic over the blue waters.

  Representing major industries in the U.S., American whalers, sealers, and traders stretched the limits of the nation's strategic concepts. Mindful of free enterprise, the Navy conducted basic scientific research in the western and southern Pacific. Moreover, it contributed to the mapping and charting of the world's oceans. Sailing in 1826 from New York, the U.S.S. Vincennes became the first American naval vessel to circumnavigate the globe. Looking outward rather than simply westward, the U.S. began to demonstrate the kind of Pacific consciousness that excited merchants for the rest of the century.